Yu-Gi-Oh! Re:Arc
by Heroi Oscura
Summary: Roy, a reporter, has just stumbled onto a living urban legend, the Shadow Rider. After tracking them down, he stumbles onto the Failure Class, an LDS classroom hidden away where students with a bad win-loss rate are shunted away forgotten. As he continues to investigate, he finds a horrible plot(s) that threatens to take advantage of the coming Dimensional War and of the students.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello and thank you for checking out my story, Yu-Gi-Oh! Re: Arc. I understand the title and maybe even the summary isn't great but I thank you nevertheless for giving it a chance.**

 **Now on to the specifics (feel free to skip this).**

 **This story will be taking place at the same time as Yugioh Arc-V, the official time will be revealed next chapter, and will be basically following my own set of characters(OCs) and their own story, along with utlizing some ideas from various idea the two most notable being Assassination Classroom and Durarara. This story's cast will feature mostly OCs, with some characters from Arc-V popping up to add to the story. I already have plans for Yuto to appear in a chapter soon enough and the three top students of LDS, (Yaiba, Masumi, and Hokuto) to appear quite frequently. Hokuto even has a major role in a certain character's story, that I think will be fun.**

 **However, I do not have current plans to change with the Arc-V's story… yet. In my opinion, the XYZ and Fusion arcs haven't been the best, and I may find myself wanting to change it around to make it better in this story. Of course, that won't happen for a while, so if you do want to see something like this, feel free to tell me.**

 **Onto the card, I only intend to use official cards from the OCG/TCG and no fan-made cards. The obvious exception to this are Action Cards (which are basically in-universe deus-ex machina… kinda), of which I will have an explanation to at the end. Luckily this first duel isn't an Action Duel, so no extra explanations!**

 **This is my first time ever making something like this and criticism is very appreciated, especially when it comes to describing the duel. Any advice on that front would be very helpful, so don't be shy!**

 **Finally, I do want to keep myself to a schedule for this story. Right now, I intend to update it every other Friday (United States EST). I've never put myself to a schedule like this ever before, but given the planned length of this, I may need to. Feel free to torment me with PMs if I end up not keeping to that schedule, haha.**

* * *

Chapter 1: The Shadow Rider

Maiami City. A city located off the coast of Japan known around the world for reinventing how dueling works and creating the well-known competition of Action Duels. An entertaining event where duelists must duel each other and engage the audience through their resounding blows. Thanks to this Maiami city has quickly grown into a dueling hotspot, where duelists around the world converge to show off their skills.

The hero of this story… well, he came to this city to profit off the stories of duels rather than participate in them himself.

"You're fired!"

"WHAT?!"

Well… trying to at least.

"What do you mean? Why am I fired?" A young man around the age of 19, with short curly orange hair and a lanky, tall frame, cried, slamming his hands down onto the desk of his boss. He was wearing rather normal clothes for someone leaving in this city, just a pair of brown pants and a white dress shirt, along with a pair of sneakers. His clothes and hair looked rustled, since he had just gotten out of bed and an old camera was thrown around his neck.

His boss, a crusty grumpy old man, simply tossed his cigarette into a nearby trash can. "Ki- _Roy_ you haven't gotten me a good story in the two years that you've been working." He held up a newspaper and held it to Roy's face. "A story about the failing duel schools in the city?" He cleared his throat and began to read the article in the question, " _The You Show Duel School is run by a friend of the late Sakaki Yusho, yet for some reason it only has a couple of students attended whilst LDS…"_ He slammed the paper down. "No one's gonna read something as stupid as this, kid!"

"But… but sir!" Roy tried to argue. "There's nothing interesting in this city that I can write about!"

His boss, simply raised an eyebrow. "Nothing. You mean the countless action duels that take place in this city every single day?"

"Urk!" Roy gulped, adjusted his collar. "I mean… uh… you see…"

His boss raised a hand, stopping Roy from thinking of a decent excuse. "Listen here, kid. I like you… kinda." He paused. "I don't really, but I think it's fun to watch you squirm. So, I'll give you this chance. If you get me a good story, before the end of the month _then_ I'll think about keeping you on."

Roy, inwardly groaned knowing that his boss was basically sending him on a fool's errand at this point since he seriously doubted that he could find a decent story within that timeframe. Nevertheless, he nodded. "Yes sir."

"Good!" His boss placed the cigarette back into his mouth. "Now git out of here and don't come back without that story." He paused. "And when you come in to edit things, of course." He glared at Roy. "What are you waiting for? Go!"

Roy rushed out of the office, to go and pack his things. Entering his small cubicle (that barely qualified as one), he stuffed his notepad and several writing utensils into his bag. He was about to leave, when he had a second thought and grabbed his deck from a small drawer before slipping it into his pocket.

Running out of the building and onto the sidewalk, he realized that he didn't really have any idea of what he was going to do. A story good enough to impress his boss, the chief of the Maiami Times? He barely liked any of the stories that were run on the _front_ page, much less Roy's worthless dribble.

Well, picking a random direction and just looking for anything interesting, started like a good start, Roy decided, as he turned to the left and started to walk forward, but not before grabbing his bicycle from the wall. As he walked with his bicycle next to him, he began to keep an ear out for any gossip and tidbits he may hear. However as soon as he started, he sighed and gave up just a quickly.

No, simple gossip and small stories wouldn't do. He needed something big. He needed something fresh. He needed something…

"Look, it's the Shadow Rider!" someone cried out to his right.

Yes, he need something… wait, what?!

Turning his head a complete ninety degrees, he spotted it. A woman riding on a dark motorcycle, wearing a black helmet and a skin-tight racing suit of the same color. She was easily passing by cars, going at a nearly impossible speed down the road. She was swerving through the traffic easily, looking undeterred in her rampage.

A nearby couple started to whisper to each other once witnessing the rider. "Did you see…?" "I didn't think it was real…" "Wasn't it just an urban legend…?" were some of the various whispers that Roy heard around him.

"Who wears those types of clothes these days, anyway?" Roy muttered to himself, not really impressed with the nighttime vigilante at all. "It's almost like…" A sudden idea hit him.

Of course! The Shadow Rider would make the perfect story to give to his boss! It was already somewhat of an urban legend in Maiami City, that made its way onto the internet. Well… urban legend with a lot of prove, but something that was still something mysterious in the city, that could totally be turned into a great article.

"Whhhoooooo!" Roy let out a garbled shout, startling a few passersby and hopped onto his bike. "Story, here I come!" He started to pedal as fast as he could in the direction that the Shadow Rider was headed.

xXx

It was a good thirty minutes in, before he realized what a horrible idea this was. He had lost the Rider almost immediately, and was currently traveling in the general direction that the woman was heading. Which had quickly turned into him, slowly traveling through a… um… less than appealing place.

A _seedy-looking_ place. That was the word that he was looking for.

He continued to pedal, glancing around the streets to spot anything resembling the Shadow Rider, already ready to bolt out of there at the first sign of trouble.

"Why does this always happen to me?" He wondered aloud, before spotting something in a nearby alleyway.

The Shadow Rider's motorcycle.

The thing was a relic of the past (not that his bicycle wasn't too) something out of the beginning of the 21st century. Nothing really that impressive, but it must have been hopped up on current tech if it could run so well. As Roy, rode in closer, he spotted a dashboard on the front of the cycle, continuing a map and a place to put your Duel Disk in.

Man, that thing would be cool for him. He absently wondered where he could buy one, before shaking his head.

Now was not the time. Currently he figured that there would be two possibilities, this could be the Rider's home, or, and the more likely possibility, she was currently handing out some vigilante justice to some random crooks.

The Shadow Rider had become some sort of real-life legend in Maiami City. A vigilante dealing out otherworldly justice through supernatural powers, was basically something straight out of a manga and it's no wonder everyone grew so attached to it. While Roy doubted that was ever the case, it had still grown into a massive phenomenon. Plus, with the multiple sightings of her, no one could deny that she was anything but real.

Which made getting a story on her, such a big deal. He still couldn't believe that he got as lucky as finding her here. Plenty of other reporters had tried to track her down to no avail. Every other one had given up, including him, at least until he was basically forced to y his boss.

Roy crept forward, finding a small metal fence at the end of the alleyway. There was a large hole in the middle of it, which he crawled through, before ducking behind a pile of crates and peeking out at the scene before him.

Two men were quietly unloading several crates from a small warehouse into a dark van behind them. Roy adjusted the zoom on his camera, so that he could see what the crates held inside of them. "They're transporting cards…?" he muttered, seeing the multicolored cards all bundled together and stored in the wooden crates. "Why do it in the middle of nowhere?"

He held his breath as he noticed someone walking up to the men, a duel disk over her arm and wearing a dark helmet that covered their face.

It was the _Shadow Rider_.

They stood there silently not making a sound, before one of the men turned around and noticed them standing right behind them. The man let out a strangled gasp and stumbled backwards, hiding behind the other guy who was the bigger and more muscular of the two. "Oi," the bigger one grunted. "What do you want?" When the Rider didn't answer, he tried again with a different question. "Who are you?"

The Rider scoffed. "Does that really matter?" they asked, showing off their sleek black and purple Duel Disk. Roy blinked, noticing that the Rider's voice was distinctly feminine.

"This is the scoop of the century," he whispered excitedly to himself, writing down some notes on his notepad.

The man snorted. "Do you know who I am, lady?"

"Should I know?" The Rider asked back.

"If you're in this parts then yes." The man grinned and placed a Duel Disk on his own arm. "My name is Kasai. Ravaging Kasai." He smirked noticing The Rider's silence. "Scared shitless huh?"

"I'm more uninterested," she drawled, causing Kasai's smile to fall. "How childish to call yourself that." She sighed. "Anyway, I'm actually here for that." She gestured to the crates of cards. "My employer wants them for himself, so if you could just give them to me right now then I can leave with anyone getting hurt."

Kasai grunted. "I have a better idea. You can duel me and if you beat me you can take the stuff. Alright?"

"This isn't a very good idea…" the other guy muttered, inching his way towards the front of the car. "She seems dangerous. Isn't she that…?"

"Can it," Kasai grunted, before giving the Shadow Rider a wide smile and activated his own orange Duel Disk. "Deal?"

She nodded and activated her Duel Disk, a thin purple Solid Vision hologram appearing. "Deal."

Roy held his breath. Was he actually going to watch the Shadow Rider duel. This was incredible. This was practically the best thing that had ever happened in his career. He should've nearly gotten fired years ago!

Wait, scratch that. Nearly getting fired was never a good thing.

"Duel!" Both the Shadow Rider and Kasai said at the same time, startling Roy out of his musings.

 **[Kasai: 4000 LP Hand: 5]**

 **[Shadow Rider: 4000 LP Hand: 5]**

"I think I'll go first," Kasai grinned as he stared at his hand. "Alright… First off, I'll activate the two Continuous Spell cards, Call of the Mummy and Everliving Underworld Cannon!" Two objects appeared in front of him, a giant coffin and a cannon made from the bones of what looked to be a dragon. "I activate Call of the Mummy's effect! It let me summon one Zombie-type monster from my hand." He picked a card and slapped in onto his Duel Disk. "I special summon the monster Skull Flame!"

A large skeleton draped in a magician's cloak and, basically, with its head on fire, appeared on the field. **[Skull Flame Lv. 8 ATK: 2600]** It held out its hands and seemed to be glaring at the Shadow Rider. "Everliving Underworld Cannon's effect activates!" Kasai laughed, as the bone cannon pointed itself straight at the Rider. "If a Zombie-type monster is Special Summoned to my side of the field, I can deal 800 damage to my opponent!"

Roy eye's widened. He was dealing damage on the _first_ turn?

The Underworld Cannon fired a ghostly skull straight at the Shadow Rider's feet, who covered her helmet with her arms as the skull exploded in a flash of bright light. When it died down, she simply looked back at her opponent and waited for him to finish his turn.

 **[Shadow Rider LP: 4000-800= 3200]**

"Next up I activate Skull Flame's effect! I can special summon one Burning Skull Head from my hand." A large human skull on fire appeared in front of him. **[Burning Skull Head Lv. 3 ATK: 1000]** "When Burning Skull Head is special summoned, I deal 1000 damage to my opponent!" The Skull opened its mouth and sprayed some fire at the Rider.

 **[Shadow Rider LP: 3200-1000= 2200]**

Kasai smirked. "Having some trouble there, huh?" he asked. "I think I'll end my turn." His smirk grew wider. "You're free to give up anytime miss."

"It's my turn," she replied simply, drawing a card. She glanced at it for a second. "I summon Magician's Robe to the field." **[Magician's Robe Lv. 2 ATK: 700]** "I'll then equip it with the Equip Spell One-Shot Wand!" The floating robe gripped the crescent wand that appeared in the air and pointed it at Kasai. **[Magician's Robe ATK: 700 +800= 1500]**

Kasai rolled his eyes and grinned. "Ya got your math there correct, little lady? My Skull Flame has more than 1000 more attack then your little ghost." He snickered. The fabled Shadow Rider was nothing more than a little girl trying to splay superhero.

"I'll have Magician's Robe attack…" Her head flicked over to Burning Skull Head. "Burning Skull Head!" The floating robe attacked the skull, shattering it into pieces. Kasai just grunted, as his life points crawled down. **[Kasai: 4000-500= 3500 LP]**

"With that I'll end my turn there," the Rider drawled, as she ended her turn.

Roy frowned. She was losing but the Rider seemed completely… calm? She had a monster with lower attack than Skull Flame on the field and if he summoned another monster then he could win…. right?

Kasai drew a card from his deck. "My turn!" he said. He glanced at the card that he just drew and placed it into his hand. "I attack Magician's Robe with Skull Flame!" From his hands, Skull Flame created a small ball of flames and fired it at the monster.

"I activate Magician's Robe effect!" The Shadow Rider suddenly said. "By discarding a Trap Card from my hand, I can special summon a Dark Magician from my deck." A card ejected itself from her deck and she grabbed it placing it on her Duel Disk. "I special summon the ultimate magician of both attack and defense, _Dark Magician_!" The old iconic card of Duel Monsters appeared on the field, spinning his purple staff in his hand. **[Dark Magician Lv. 7 ATK: 2500]**

"So, what?" Kasai growled. "It doesn't stop Skull Flame's attack! Go Skull Flame! Attack her Magician's Robe!" Skull Flame's fireball grew larger and the monster threw it at Magician's Robe shattering it to pieces. **[Shadow Rider 2200-1100=1100 LP]**

"I activate the equip spell One-Shot Wand's effect!" Shadow Rider said, just as Magician's Robe shattered into pieces. "I can destroy it after damage calculation and draw one card!" She placed her hand on her deck and paused.

Roy frowned, wondering what she could be possibly thinking. She managed to summon out a Dark Magician straight from her deck but with less attack than Skull Flame wasn't it useless?

The Shadow Rider drew her card and Roy could've sworn that he saw her smiling underneath her helmet. "You're an idiot," she said to Kasai.

Kasai ground his teeth together. "What you little bitch?"

"You could've used Skull Flame's effect to grab a Flaming Skull Head from the graveyard instead of doing your normal Draw Phase. Then using Skull Flame's effect, special summon said Flaming Skull Head and dealt 1800 damage to me once again." She was giggling underneath that helmet. "Instead you decided just to attack the bait I laid out for you. Thanks for that."

"Shut it," Kasai growled. "How you know I didn't just plan to do it on my next turn, huh?"

She sighed and shrugged. "You just don't get it, do you?" She pointed to Skull Flame. "That's because that monster isn't going to be around next turn."

"With what? Grandpa over there?" he gestured to Dark Magician.

"Exactly." She sounded extremely confident to Roy. "Now end your turn already."

Kasai grunted. "I end my turn."

"It's my turn!" She drew a card. "From my hand, I activate the spell card Dark Magic Attack! With Dark Magician on the field I can destroy all Spell and Trap cards on the field!" Both Everliving Underworld Cannon and Call of the Mummy shattered into pieces.

"Tch." Kasai gritted his teeth for a second before grinning. "So, what? Dark Magician still doesn't have enough attack power to take out Skull Flame."

"I then activate the Quick-Play Spell Magic Expand! My Dark Magician gains 1000 ATK until the end of this turn!" **[Dark Magician 2500+1000= 3500 ATK]**

"What?!"

"Go Dark Magician!" The Shadow Rider shouted. "Dark Magic Attack!" Dark Magician raised its staff and pointed it straight at Skull Flame, charging up a large purple ball of energy. He pointed it at Skull Flame and fired it, shattering Kasai's monster into pieces.

 **[Kasai 3500-900=2600 LP]**

"Damnit," He muttered, glancing back at the truck behind him. His partner, who had gotten in the driver's seat nodded and gave him an inconspicuous thumbs-up. Everything was set up for their get-away. All he had to do was win this duel.

"I set one card facedown on the field," his opponent said, as a vertical backing appeared in front of her. "And end my turn. And because of that Dark Magician's Attack returns to normal." **[Dark Magician ATK: 3500-1000= 2500]**

"I draw," Kasai shouted. He glanced over his hand. "First off I activate Foolish Burial from my hand, to send one Burning Skull Head from my Deck to the Graveyard." He grinned and cracked his knuckles. "Sorry lady, but I'm summoning my best monster now. You don't stand a chance."

"Try me."

Roy blinked. Was that enjoyment he had heard from underneath the helmet? In this sort of situation?

"I remove from play Skull Flame from my Graveyard to Special Summon this monster from my hand! Supersonic Skull Flame, my ace monster!" A centaur-like monster with Skull Flame's body appeared in front of Kasai. **[Supersonic Skull Flame Lv.10 ATK: 2600]**

"I activate Supersonic's effect! It deals you 400 damage times the amount of Burning Skull Heads are in my Graveyard!" Kasai grinned. "Right now, I have two. Meaning I can deal you with 800 points of damage!" Two ghostly images of Burning Skull Head divebombed the Shadow Rider. **[Shadow Rider LP: 1100-800=300]**

"My Supersonic Skull Flame then attacks your Dark Magician!" Kasai ordered. The monster fired a stream of fire at Dark Magician causing it to shatter into pieces. The Shadow Rider visibly flinched at the sight of her monster being destroyed like that. **[Shadow Rider LP: 300-100=200]**

"And with that I'll end my turn," Kasai said. He smirked. "Face it. You've lost. Next turn my Skull Flame will burn you once more and you'll lose."

The Shadow Rider didn't answer him and instead gazed around the field as she drew her card. "And with this I'll call it my victory," she said, without even bothering to check the card in her hand.

Kasai's smile faltered. "Huh?"

Roy just stared. As ignorant as he was about Duel Monsters he couldn't see a good way to come out of this situation for the Rider. All she had was three cards in her hand and one card set face-down, which she didn't use on her opponent's turn. However, could that set card have something to do with was she was so confident?

The same thought had apparently crossed Kasai's mind, as he was staring at his hand sweating. "You're thinking that you should've used that MST beforehand right?" The Rider called to him.

Kasai paled. "How… How did you…?"

"It's useless. I call that this is my Final Turn!" she said, and Roy could feet his heart grow faster at these words in excitement. "I activate the Trap Card Magician Navigation!" The card she had set prior flipped up. "With this trap card, I can summon one Dark Magician from my hand! Be revived, Dark Magician!" Another copy of Dark Magician materialized on the field. **[Dark Magician Lv. 7 ATK: 2500]** "I can then Special Summon a Spellcaster with 2000 or less ATK from my Deck! I choose Magician's Rod!" A second copy of Dark Magician's rod materialized next to him, and the magician grabbed it easily wielding the second copy in his right hand. [Magician's Rod Lv. 3 ATK: 1600]

"S-So what?" Kasai blubbered out. "Both of those monsters are still not enough to take on my own monster!" Almost as if to illustrate his point, his monster reared itself up and let out a loud growl.

The Rider snorted. "I don't even have to battle your monster to take it out," she said. "I activate the Spell Card Thousand Knives!" Dark Magician waved both of his rods as a multitube of kitchen knives appeared from them. "When Dark Magician is on the field, I can target one monster on the field and destroy it. I choose…" She paused and pointed at Supersonic Skull Flame. "Your only monster!"

"What?!" Both Roy and Kasai said at the same time. Luckily, everyone was too focused on the duel to even notice the third voice added into the fray.

Dark Magician swung its staff sending the knives towards Supersonic Skull Flame. They pierced the monster, causing it to dissipate into nothing from the attack. Kasai eyes bulged out of his skull. "Dammit!" He looked around the field, before realizing that there were no Action Cards.

"Go Dark Magician and Magician's Rod! Attack him directly!" The Shadow Rider yelled, as Dark Magician brought together its two staffs and began charging a magical attack. " _Double Dark Magic Attack_!" Dark Magician launched the giant ball of dark magic where it exploded on contact!

 **[Kasai LP: 2600-4100= 0 LP]**

 **Shadow Rider WINS!**

Kasai stumbled backward shielding his hands from the blast of dark magic, as his life points were reduced to zero. "I… lost?" he asked himself, gritting his teeth.

The Rider nodded, deactivating her Duel Disk as her monsters disappeared. "You did," she confirmed, walking towards Kasai, who stumbled back until his back was to his truck. "Now you'll hand over the cards you're transporting and waddle along to a nearby police station to turn yourselves in."

Kasai smirked. "You really think I'll just hand it over?" he asked, before pounding his fist onto to back of the trailer, making a dull sound echo throughout the alley. "Get out of here!"

The truck roared to life and, with surprising speed, accelerated forward, crashing through a nearby chain-link fence and out onto the main street.

"Shit!" The Shadow Rider kneed Kasai in the stomach and the grunt stumbled back. She turned around to follow the truck, but was suddenly tackled from behind by Kasai, who had recovered quite quickly from her own attack. Roy was frozen in fear, unable to get up, only able to watch the event unfold in front of him.

He pinned her down and grinned. "Now let's see what's really under that helmet," he said, ripping it off. Roy tried to lean forward to see if he could snap a picture of the face, but Kasai was blocking his view. "What?" He heard Kasai say, before the Shadow Rider, managed to wrestle her arm free and punch him in the face. The grunt looked surprised as he fell back, knocked out.

The Shadow Rider picked her helmet off the ground and Roy was finally able to get a good look of her face. He let out a tiny gasp, forgetting to even take a picture as he marveled at the Rider's beauty. Pale porcelain skin framed a perfect face and long thin black hair cascaded from her head. He could even see a small mole next to her mouth that made her look even more beautiful…

As Roy was mesmerized by the Shadow Rider, she quickly put the helmet back on her head and dashed towards her bike, completely missing the crouched Roy. She hopped on and rode off, clearly intending to follow the truck. Roy blinked and realized that she had left. "I… I didn't get a picture of her face," he mumbled, looking through the pictures he had taken of the duel and then back at the unconscious grunt. "Well this should be enough to keep my job… I think."

He sighed. "Well hopefully it's good enough for the boss," he muttered, as he walked back towards his bicycle, before spotting something on the ground, that looked like a small clipboard. He flipped through the papers attached to it. "Is this… a class roster?" he murmured, noticing the cursive words scrawled at the top that read, " _LDS Failure Class._ "

Pocketing the papers, Roy decided it was best to head home and start writing his job-saving story. He hopped on his bicycle, before blinking and looking around the rather shady street of Maiami City. "Uh… how-how do I get home?"

xXx

Loki inwardly sighed, staring at the dark faces of his subordinates- _employees_ seated around a large table.

A board meeting. One of the worst and most uninteresting parts of running a healthy business. Especially if your business was one of the biggest in the world. Not very fun for someone like him.

Industrial Illusions. A company that publishes the and produces the Yu-Gi-Oh! card game and distributes the game all around the world. A company that had gone through major reconstructing throughout the many years that the game had existed (along with giving up the rights to Dungeon Dice Monsters), following the various rises and falls of the card game. The current CEO of the company was a person who was only known as Loki. A young man, with long blue hair that went halfway to his neck and had shifty golden eyes. He was currently some simple clothes of blue jeans and a black T-shirt, and he was currently tapping his fingers against the table and rolling his eyes, as he watched the more older members debate about some asinine topic.

"I haven't seen you say anything about this, Loki," one of them said, pulling a cigarette out of his mouth and glaring at the CEO. "Especially it was you who made and approved this cards."

Well… maybe not so asinine.

"Red-Eyes? Blue-Eyes? Toons?" The cigarette man blew out a puff of smoke, causing Loki to wave the smoke away from his face. "And what are these Number cards you've also approved? What's the point of all of this?"

Loki rolled his eyes. "There's nothing wrong with using cards from history and giving them new things to work with," he pointed out dryly.

"History?" Another person frowned. "I've never heard of these cards before. And don't think we haven't heard of your, ah, _project_." He leaned in. "Be honest, sir. What are you really planning?"

He rolled his eyes. Old geezers. They had no idea how to stay out of his business. He opened his mouth to respond, when the doors opened, causing everyone to look over at them. His assistant, Mary, had walked in and was frozen at the doorway. Loki sighed and waved her over, letting the old men continue to argue with each other. "What's wrong?" he whispered to her, already having a good feeling of what the issue was.

"Sir." She bit her lip and she leaned into his ear. "It's the Shadow Rider again. Luckily, she didn't manage to get the cards _this_ time, but one of the people we hired has been arrested."

He nodded. "Send the bail money for him through one of our contacts and tell him to make sure he _isn't_ followed this time."

Mary nodded and walked away, as Loki leaned back in his chair and massaged his temples. Reiji Akaba. How could that man know so much yet know so little? Loki knew that Reiji was trying his best to keep the coming Dimensional War under wraps, even from him, but the signs were already there. Reiji's agent, the Shadow Rider as dubbed by the mass public, was already causing enough trouble as it was, and he heard talks from his spies that LDS was already developing their own Action Field that didn't need a full Solid Vision System to function. Not only that he had recently received news that the XYZ Dimension had fallen, but he had also heard of a Synchro Duelist jumping dimensions. It was only a matter of time before Academia attacked Standard.

Loki smirked. Things were certainly getting interested. And with the plan he was setting up, he would be the one to reap all the benefits from the coming war.

He couldn't wait.

* * *

Next Time On Yu-Gi-Oh! Re: Arc…

Roy having been mesmerized by the Shadow Rider decides to dig a little deeper into who she could be. His search leads him to the Failure Class where a meets a group of eight students who are the lowest of the low at LDS, all of them with an abysmal win-loss rate. Along with their teacher who looks extremely familiar. However, one of the students, Yuta, is having a duel the very same day against one of LDSs top Fusion users, one that would determine if he is to stay a student of the duel school. Does Yuta have what it takes?

Next time: The Failure Class

* * *

 **Thank you for reading the first chapter of my new story! Reviews and constructive criticism are appreciated! It's my first time doing a story like this so I am rather nervous!**


	2. Chapter 2

**So… How about that Link Summoning?**

* * *

Chapter 2: The Failure Class

" _And thus, the mysterious Shadow Rider strikes again_ ," Roy muttered to himself, typing away on his laptop. " _The criminal was safely taken to the penitentiary, after the events thanks to an anonymous tip from a concerned citizen._ " He smirked and leaned back in his chair, looking quite pleased of himself for the finished product. Only a couple of days had passed and he had already met his boss's requirements. Now all he had to do was hand this over to him and…

"This doesn't work," his boss said, shoving the stack of papers back at him a couple of minutes later.

Roy's mouth fell open. "What-What do you mean this doesn't work?" he asked desperately. "This is probably the best thing I've ever written in my life!"

"Show's how good you actually are," his boss replied with a grunt. Roy flinched, as his boss continued to talk. "Anyway, I've gotten plenty of stories the same as this. As impressive as it was to get pictures… there's already a ton of them on the Internet." He leaned forward. "Maybe if you had revealed the tipper's name or caught a picture of the Shadow Rider's face, I would've printed it. Maybe."

Roy grimaced. So, close yet so far…

"You still have plenty of days to try again," Bossman said, lighting another cigarette. "In fact, I have the perfect story for you to take…" He handed Roy a flyer.

Roy took it and glanced it over. " _Yuya Sakaki, the son of Yusho, versus The Current Champion Strong Ishijima the Champion. The Duel to settle things once and for all…"_ he read, frowning slightly, seeing that the duel was scheduled today.

"Well?"

"As much as I like the idea, sir…" Roy hesitated. "I'm not all too familiar with dueling to write a good story on this. I just might make it worse."

His boss grunted. "It's your loss," he said. "I'll give the job to one of my other workers then. Meanwhile you still have to deliver something. Be happy I'm giving you this chance at all. It's only because of you mother…" He frowned. "Well, good luck son."

Roy nodded, his hand clenched around a piece of paper. He had a lead towards the Shadow Rider anyway.

It was time to pay the Leo Institute of Dueling a visit.

xXx

It hadn't been too hard for Roy to find out what the Failure Class was exactly. In fact, the receptionist at the school had been more than happy to give him the address and location of the classroom, where, apparently, the Failure Class was housed.

The issue being that it was outside the city limits on a small mountaintop nearby, some ways away from the main LDS building. "Who puts a classroom all the way out here?" he muttered to himself, hiking up the small worn down path. There were plenty of candy wrappers and opened booster packs on the ground, so Roy was pretty sure that he was heading in the correct direction.

After a good hour of hiking (and avoiding some bee along the way), he found himself in a small clearing with a small rickety wooden building in the center. There were some bicycles parked nearby along with, lo and behold, a motorcycle.

Roy was starting to get excited. He was close, he could feel it. All he had to do was walk forward and into the building. He paused however weighting his options. He could show up unannounced and possibly get booted from the premises, or he could try calling the receptionist but risk losing the trail. Plus, he had a feeling that said receptionist wouldn't take so kindly to being called right now. She seemed in quite a hurry to get rid of him in favor of the guy in a suit and carrying flowers.

Well, there was no use just waiting here forever, Roy reasoned. It was time to head in.

After opening the door to, what he assumed, was the main hallway of the building, Roy felt like he was suddenly sent several years into the past. There were small wooden lockers containing backpacks of varying sizes and some cards were shoved haphazardly into them. He walked forward into the depths of the old-school building, hearing a voice coming from one of the nearby classrooms. He stood in front of the sliding door, taking a second to steel himself, before pushing the door open.

Silence.

Roy glanced around the classroom, seeing eight kids, five girls and three boys, all seated in the small wooden desks. The moment he entered, they had all turned their head to stare at him. In front of the classroom was the person he was looking for. He recognized her face immediately.

 _The Shadow Rider._

"Yes?" The woman said impatiently, glaring at Roy. "Is there something wrong? Has Yuta's match been canceled?" She was wearing something different than two night ago, instead wearing a long black dress and dark purple jacket.

One of the boys, a short blue haired kid with his long hair tied up in two pigtails almost making him look a lot like a girl, seemingly let out a thankful sigh at her words.

"Uh… no?" Roy said, at a complete loss of words, noting the broken look on the same boy.

"Then why are you here?" The teacher said, impatiently, playing with the piece of chalk in her hand. Roy glanced to the chalkboard next to her, seeing a large load of nonsense about Duel Monsters all over the blackboard.

"I'm here… I'm here for…" Roy struggled to find something to say. "I'm here to write a report on LDS," he said quickly, ignoring the giggling from one of the girls in the back.

"Oh." She raised an eyebrow. "And why did you come here of all places? Not many people know of this place, you know."

"I did my research," Roy said proudly. Sure, it was a lie, but he could feel proud of his lie, right?

"Hmm," The teacher seemed to be mulling it over.

"Sensei! Cira-Sensei!" The same girl who had been laughing and giggling in the back, waved her hand wildly in the air, a grin plastered over her face. She was wearing a dark blue tank top and a black vest, along with a short black skirt. On her feet were large black boots and her black hair went to her waist, with blue portions jutting out from the side of her head, almost like two fins. "Can we keep him? Let's keep him! It'll be fun!" She asked, her dark purple eyes shining.

"Wha-?" The large boy, next to her, who had short cropped brown hair and was wearing a simple white buttoned T-shirt and brown shorts, stared at the wild girl next to him. He had golden eyes and permanent scowl on his face.

Cira, the teacher, let out a sigh. "I guess it wouldn't hurt," she said, though by the tone of her voice, Roy could tell that she thought otherwise. "You can sit anywhere you want," she said, turning back to her lecture.

Roy glanced around the classroom, spotting the same girl from before giving him a sharp grin and patting the desk next to her. Feeling, suddenly, like a high school student again, he sat down next to her. "So, what are you really writing about?" the girl whispered to her.

"Exactly what I said," Roy replied, jotting down some notes in his notepad, pretending to look busy.

"Ah." The girl nodded. "So you're into the sexy teacher types huh? The ones that show _all_ the skin."

"Huh?" Roy looked at the girl in confusion.

"Maybe if you don't stop bothering our guest, I'll make you stand outside, Lily," Cira said from the front of the classroom.

"Gotcha Sensei!" she saluted, turning away from Roy for a second to focus on the lecture much to his pleasure. He wasn't sure what he was going to say if the girl at kept on asking him questions. Knowing him, he would probably cave in and tell her everything eventually.

An hour passed by rather quickly, that Roy mostly used to pay attention to Cira's voice and jotting some personal theories he had on her situation. Perhaps this was her was like her "secret identity."

Or something like that.

Cira looked up from the notes she had been writing about Ritual monsters and frowned. Dusting off her hands, "Well that's all for today. You're free to go home." She looked at the blue-haired boy in the front. "Yuta, are you ready?"

Yuta gulped, but nevertheless nodded.

One of the girls, who had been seated near the window with a small doll, got up from her seat immediately, startling Roy. Without anyone acknowledging her presence, she walked out of the room, with only Roy watching her go.

"Well, I guess it's time for us to go," Lily said getting up and stretching. She tossed her bag around her shoulders and grinned at Yuta. "Good luck, Yuta. I'm rooting for you!"

"You'll need it," the large boy grunted, heading straight and out of the doors.

"Good luck," the kid with lighter blue hair mumbled, following the other two. Lily gave Roy a thumbs up and headed out herself.

"Um… Where's everyone going?" Roy asked looking at Cira.

However, it was Yuta who had answered. "Class is getting out early today," he explained to Roy. "Since I have a match today with someone." He sighed and looked down. "They probably don't want to see me lose, again," he mumbled.

One of the girls who had been sitting with Yuta, rolled her amber eyes. "You're being so hard on yourself," she said shaking her head and short green hair that went up to the top of her neck. She was wearing the same school uniform as the orange haired girl next to her. She turned to her. "Right, Misaki? You know what I mean."

Misaki, as what Roy figured her name was, sighed. "Well, um… I guess, Yuno?" she said, looking slightly confused, much to Yuno's dismay. "What do you think, Naomi?" she asked, diverting the question to another female student with black hair tied in braids and wearing circular glasses.

"Huh?" She looked startled at the fact that she was being addressed. "Um… I guess."

"You aren't very helpful you know," Yuno grumbled.

Yuta just sighed again.

"Yuta," Cira said calmly, gazing down at her student. "If you want to really win, you'll win. Don't worry. Just do your best." Once again, she glanced at the clock, before looking at Roy, who stiffened. "Are you planning on leaving?"

"Um… well… um," he spluttered, unsure of what to say.

"You can stay!" Yuno said quickly, beaming. "You can help us cheer Yuta on!"

"I can?" Roy muttered, but nevertheless nodded to Yuno. "Alright, I guess I'll stay."

Cira rolled her eyes and looked around the room. Counting Roy, there were now 5 people in the audience to support him. "Alright," she said, bringing her back to the center of attention. "Let's head to the back."

Everyone stood up and nodded, although Yuta a little more reluctantly, as they walked out of the classroom. Roy followed close behind, looking curious. They went through the set of double doors that looked more clean and polished then anything Roy had seen in the run-down building thus far. The two doors were made of stainless steel and, as Cira inputted a code into a number pad beside it, the doors slid open, revealing an…

"A Solid Vision field?" he asked, surprised. He hadn't expected to find one of those arenas here.

Cira nodded silently and glanced at Yuta. "The same?" she asked.

Yuta nodded back, as he placed his duel disk on his arm, looking at the two people who had appeared near the back of the small arena, from the doors in the back. They walked towards the group and Roy's eyes widened. He nudged the person right next to him, who happened to be Naomi. "Who are they?" he asked her, as he found the two teenagers familiar, but couldn't place their names.

Naomi winced, but answered him anyway. "They're Masumi Kotsu," she said gesturing to the girl. "And Hokuto Shijima." This time she gestured to the purple-haired boy. "They're both the best of the best in LDS. Both of them are the top of their classes."

Roy blinked. "Impressive."

Yuta extended his hand. "Thank you for challenging me," he said, expressing good sportsmanship.

Masumi took it and shook. "Thank you for accepting," she said, offering Yuta a smile. "Just so you know I don't intend to go easy on you."

Yuta nodded silently, tearing his hand from the girl as quickly as he could. She looked somewhat taken aback, but placed her duel disk on her arm. "We're ready," she said to Cira.

Cira nodded back and quidded the rest of them, including Hokuto to a small staircase in the corner of the arena that led to a small rusty control room and several seats. Most of the class's students sat in the front while Hokuto said in the back, looking bored. Cira sat in the front right at the control center, and Roy decided to sit as close as he could to Cira, so he chose a seat right behind her.

If Cira noticed this, she didn't say anything, instead preferring to keep her attention on the console in front of her. She pressed a couple of buttons and began to flip through the various Action Field in the machine's data. "This one," she murmured, just loud enough for Roy to hear, clicking another button. "Action Field On! Hero City!"

The arena around Masumi and Yuta began warp and distort as the Solid Vision system beneath them began to produce mass. Tall, futuristic, buildings sprouted up around them and underneath their feet a large road appeared. As the buildings formed themselves, a monorail track snaked itself around the buildings and with it came a high-speed train, zooming along the tracks.

A large skyscraper, the biggest one yet, formed right under Masumi and Yuta's feet, shooting them straight into the air, stopping high in the air. "Are you two ready?" Cira called out, as the rest of the arena finish forming.

"Yes," Masumi said, with a determined nod, activating her Duel Disk.

"Y-yes," Yuta managed to stammer out, activating his own dark blue Duel Disk.

"Very well." Cira closed her eyes for a second. "Begin!"

"Duelists locked in battle!" Masumi shouted, starting out the chant confidently.

"K-kicking the earth and dancing in the air alongside their monsters!" Yuta managed to continue.

"They storm through this field! Behold!"

"This is newest and greatest evolution of Dueling!"

"Action… DUEL!" Masumi and Yuta yelled at the same time, as the cards that had been floating above them broke apart and fell onto the ground, nestling in the hardest to reach places.

Roy gulped. The Duel had started.

xXx

The moment the duel started, Yuta turned around and ran, heading towards the building's fire escape.

Masumi frowned. "Are you running away from a duel, you coward?"

Well, it's the only thing I can do, Yuta wanted to point out, but instead he stayed silent, vaulting over the railing and dropping down to a window below. Taking a deep breath, he began to inch his way down to the streets below.

Masumi peeked over the edge to see what he was doing. She rolled her eyes. "If you're not going to take the first step then I will!" She glanced at her hand a smile tugging at her lips. "From my hand, I activate the Spell Card Gem-Knight Fusion to fuse both Gem-Knight Lapis and Gem-Knight Obsidian!" She took cards from her hand and slid them into Graveyard. " _The blue stone that holds mysterious power and the slumbering lava of the earth_ ," she chanted. " _Now, become light and appear before us! FUSION SUMMON! Level 5! Gem-Knight Lady Lapis Lazuli!"_

A monster appeared in front of Masumi, on that was dressed like a blue nun with pale blue skin. It held its hands in prayer and stood there, waiting for Masumi to order her. **[Gem-Knight Lady Lapis Lazuli Lv. 5 ATK: 2400/DEF: 1000 Rock/Earth]**

Hokuto whistled. "She's no holding back at all," he noted, smirking. "She's already summoned one of her best monsters."

"I-It's fine," Yuno said, nervously, biting her lip. "It's only her first turn. She can't attack anyway. Yuta will be fine." She sounded like she was mostly trying to convince herself.

Roy glanced over at Cira, only to find her attention deeply engrossed in the match. Her eyes were following Yuta as he climbed down from the fire escape and onto the streets of the constructed city. Yuta whirled around to look up at Masumi, who was staring down at him with a steely gaze.

"I activate the effect of Gem-Knight Obsidian in the graveyard!" she shouted, making Yuta flinch. "When Obsidian is sent to the graveyard from my hand I can Special Summon one Normal Monster from the graveyard. I Special Summon Gem-Knight Lapis in Defense Position!" The small, petite Gem-Knight appeared on the field in front of Masumi, kneeling in a defensive stance. **[Gem-Knight Lapis Lv. 3 DEF:100/ATK:1200 Rock/Earth]**

"Lapis Lazuli's effect!" Masumi said, gesturing to said monster. "By sending one Gem-Knight monster from my deck to the graveyard I can deal 500 points of damage times the number of special summoned monsters on the field." She slid a card from her deck in the graveyard.

"There's one," Yuta said to himself looking at Lapis Lazuli as she gathered light in her hands. His eyes suddenly widened. "Wait-!"

Cira nodded. "Gem-Knight Lapis was also special summoned. She played this in a way, that would let her deal the maximum amount of damage on her first turn."

"Go, Lapis Lazuli!" Masumi ordered, pointing at Yuta. "Heavenly Light!" The light in the monster's hands grew blinding as she fired the beam at Yuta's feet, cracking the street. Yuta was thrown back, landing several feet away on his back. **[Yuta LP: 4000-1000=3000]**

"I'll end my turn there," Masumi said, before looking around the building she was on. Apparently not finding what she was looking for, she glanced up noticing the train passing her by. "Lapis!" she shouted suddenly, running to the edge of the building. Her monster positioned itself right under her the moment she jumped and catapulted Masumi high into the air. In a swift motion, she grabbed a handrail jutting out from the train's doors and pulled herself inside.

If Roy had been drinking something, he would've performed the most glorious spit take in his opinion. Unfortunately, everyone would just have to be satisfied with his look of disbelief. "How's did she do that?" he asked. The rest of the class shrugged apparently just as shocked as he was, but Hokuto was still smirking.

"That's just the type of things you have to do when you're at the top," he bragged.

"Whatever," Yuno scoffed. "Yuta has still got this." She began to pound her fists on the glass window and screamed, "Yuta Go! Knock this bitch into the next century! GO!"

"Um…" Misaki sighed. "Yuno remember what happened the last time you did that."

Yuno froze. "Oh, right." Chuckling nervously, she sat back down in her chair.

Yuta, meanwhile, stood back up. It was his turn and he was currently thinking of what to do. He had a Polymerization in his but the only two monsters he had couldn't be fused into anything from his Extra Deck. He glanced at the Spell Card he had just drawn.

He could do this.

"I summon Elemental Hero Sparkman in attack position!" Yuta said, slapping the card down on his Duel Disk. The hero, clad in blue and gold armor, appeared in front of him, its arms folded. **[Elemental HERO Sparkman Lv. 4 ATK:1600/DEF:1400 Warrior/Light]**

"I'll then give it the Equip Spell Spark Blaster!" Yuta said, as a small handgun materialized in Sparkman's hand. "With it I can change the battle position of any face-up monster on the field! I'll change Lapis to attack!" Sparkman fired its gun at the kneeling gem-knight and shocked it. it stood up, shaking off the sparks from the blast. **[Gem-Knight Lapis Lv. 3 ATK: 1200]**

"Oh?" Masumi smiled. "You're going to attack Lapis?" she asked, eyeing an Action Card nearby.

Yuta blinked, before he eyed her Fusion Monster. "Dammit," he swore, realizing his mistake. He should've been aiming for Lapis Lazuli. In his haste to deal damage, he had switched Gem-Knight Lapis to attack instead of switching Lapis Lazuli to defense. "I activate Spark Blaster again to switch Lapis Lazuli to defense!" Yuta said, as Sparkman fired another blast of his gun at Lapis Lazuli, changing its position. **[Gem-Knight Lady Lapis Lazuli Lv.5 DEF: 1000]**

"Sparkman attacks Laspis Lazuli!" The Elemental HERO began to run forward, bringing its gun up to aim at Masumi's kneeling fusion monster.

"Action Spell!" Masumi suddenly shouted. "Hostage!"

Yuta ground his teeth together. He knew what that action card did…

"With this card, I can target one monster I control and for the rest of the turn, you can only target that monster with attacks," Masumi explained. "I target Gem-Knight Lapis!" Lapis suddenly moved itself in front of her comrade.

"Fine!" Yuta said, looking around and finding a card lodged in a nearby crevice. He grabbed it. "Action Spell! Hero's Charge! Sparkman gains 500 ATK!"

 **[Elemental HERO Sparkman ATK: 1600 + 500= 2100 ATK]**

"Go, Sparkman! Spark Discharge!" Yuta commanded, as Sparkman aimed its gun at Lapis and fired at it, shattering it into pieces.

 **[Masumi LP: 4000 – 900 = 3100]**

"Nice!" Yuno said, excitedly. "He's evened the playing field!" She began to pound on the glass again. "Go Yuta! You can do it! Go!"

"Yuno…" Misaki sighed, looking over at Cira, only to find her frowning.

"Cira?" Roy tried to ask. "What's wrong?"

Cira frowned only grew wider. "He missed his chance to take out Lapis Lazuli," she muttered, eyeing Yuta. "If that's the case…"

"I set one card and end my turn!" Yuta said, placing a card face-down on his duel disk. "Sparkman's attack returns to normal." **[Elemental HERO Sparkman: 2100-500=1600]**

"My turn! I draw!" Masumi shouted over the din of the roaring monorail. "I activate Lapis Lazuli's effect once again! I can send one Gem-Knight to the Graveyard to deal you 500 damage times the number of special summoned monsters on the field! There is one. Meaning you take 500!" Lapis Lazuli leveled another beam at Yuta, who narrowly managed to dodge it.

 **[Yuta LP: 3000-500=2500]**

"I then switch Lapis Lazuli to attack position and attack your Sparkman!" she commanded, as her monster fired another beam of light at Sparkman, destroying it.

 **[Yuta LP: 2500-800=1700]**

Yuta winced. "I activate my Trap Card, Hero Signal!" he said, as the card he had previously set flipped open. "When one of my monsters are destroyed by battle, I can special summon one Elemental HERO from my deck! I choose Elemental HERO Burstinatrix in attack!" The hero lady of fire appeared in front of Yuta. **[Elemental HERO Burstinatrix Lv. 3 ATK:1200/DEF: 800 Warrior/Fire]**

"I set one card and end my turn," Masumi drawled, looking rather unimpressed.

"Well there goes his chance," Roy said, feeling just as unimpressed.

Hokuto snorted and shrugged. "What do you expect from a bunch of failures?"

"Hey!" Yuno growled taking a step forward.

Roy, however looked curious. "What do you mean?" he asked Hokuto. "Isn't LDS the elite of the elite?"

Ignoring Yuno, the purple-haired boy turned to Roy. "Yeah. Everyone expect these people. Their win-loss ratios are atrocious." He gestured to Yuta, who had just drawn his card. "He barely has 10 wins under his belt. Out of 100."

"Then why…?"

"Why are they still enrolled?" Hokuto finished. "It's because their parents are rich enough. They're basically paying their enrollment in LDS. But since they're so bad, the school sticks them in here for 'remedial' classes, so they're still technically enrolled, but without having the hassle of dealing them in the main classes." He scowled at Yuno. "Basically, they're a bunch of rich kids who are here without any actual effort."

"That's not-!" Yuno cried, being held back by both Misaki and Naomi.

"True?" Hokuto snorted. "Sure, it is. You deserve to be here!"

"Why you-!" Yuno managed to break free of her friend's grips and stomped over to the boy, when-!

"Yuno, sit down," Cira said calmly, her gaze still focused on the match.

Yuno froze. "Y-yes, sensei," she stammered, placing herself down at the closest seat to her.

"And you," Cira said, obviously talking to Hokuto. "You're a guest in here. If you continue with these disturbances, then I'll be forced to kick you out."

The boy simply rolled his eyes. "Sure, whatever."

Meanwhile, back on the field, Yuta smiled as he noticed what he had just drawn. "Just what I needed," he muttered. "I activate the Spell Card Polymerization to fuse together both my Burstinatrix and Elemental HERO Avian in my hand!" he said, before starting to chant. " _Hero of flame that burns away villainy and hero of wind that attacks from sky-high! Combine your powers into a new hero_!" He placed his hands together. " _Fusion Summon! Level 6! Come forth, Elemental HERO Flame Wingman!"_

 **[Elemental HERO Flame Wingman Lv.6 ATK:2100/DEF:1200 Warrior/Wind]**

"Yes!" Yuno cheered. "His ace monster!"

Masumi chuckled. "So what? Lapis Lazuli still has the higher attack power."

"Not for long!" Yuta, as her ran through the streets and found what he was looking for. An Action Card was nestled in a small telephone booth on the street. He reached in and grabbed it. "Action Spell, Hero's Charge!" he cried. "Flame Wingman's attack increases by 500 points!" **[Elemental HERO Flame Wingman ATK: 2100+500=2600]** "Plus when Flame Wingman destroys a monster in battle, you take damage equal to the amount of attacks points of the destroyed monster!"

Roy did some quick calculations. "That means…"

" _I can do this!_ " Yuta thought, grinning, as his monster charged.

"Trap Card, open!" Masumi said suddenly, wiping Yuta's grin away. "Pyroxene Fusion!" The card flipped open. "I send Gem-Knight Lady Lapis Lazuli and Gem-Knight Alexandrite from my hand to perform a Fusion Summon!"

"During my turn?!" Yuta asked, his eyes wide.

" _Lady knight that showcases the light of all gems! Knight of honorable lineage! Become much like a flawless diamond_!" Masumi chanted. " _Fusion Summon! Level 8! Gem-Knight Zirconia!"_ The behemoth of a monster martialized, falling onto a building, nearly collapsing its ceiling. **[Gem-Knight Zirconia Lv. 8 ATK:2900/DEF:2500 Earth/Rock]**

Masumi, apparently tired of the train, jumped down and her Zirconia caught her in mid-air, before setting her down. "Do you still want to attack?" she asked, with a leery smile, gesturing to her monster.

Yuta grit his teeth. "I… I end my turn…"

"My turn! I draw!" She checked the card and placed it in her hand. "Battle! Zirconia attacks Flame Wingman!"

"Flame Wingman!" Yuta yelled, jumping onto his fusion monster's back. Flame Wingman flew up, towards an action card that was lodged into the wall of a nearby skyscraper. Yuta grabbed it the moment that Zirconia had reached them. "Action Spell!" he yelled. "Hero's Shield!" A large shield appeared in front of Zirconia, blocking its punch. "This card negates my monster's destruction!"

"But you still take damage!" Masumi said, as the force of Zirconia's punch broke apart the floating shield. Yuta was flung back from Wingman's back, from the wind created, and landed on a nearby roof of a building.

 **[Yuta LP: 1700-800=900]**

"I set one card and end my turn!" Masumi said, placing one card in her Spell/Trap Zone.

Yuta slowly pulled himself up, shaking his head. He was still in this. He was still in this. He was still in this. He was-! "I draw!" he said, drawing a card from his deck.

He had lost.

"I'll set two cards on the field and end my turn," he said dejectedly.

Masumi blinked before shaking her head. "You've already given up?" she asked, sounding disappointed. "Well I can't say it was unexpected."

"It's not… It's not…" Yuta muttered, unable to come up with a response.

Roy, meanwhile, had suddenly realized something. "Hey, wait a minute!" he said, turning to Hokuto. "If you guys are the best in the school, why is she dueling him?" He huffed. "Seems a bit unfair."

Hokuto simply shrugged. "I don't know." He gestured to Cira. "Ask her."

Roy turned to see her response, only to find her still transfixed on the match. Grumbling, he leaned back in his chair and continued to watch the train wreck.

"It's my turn!" Masumi shouted, as she drew a card. "I activate the trap card, Gem Enhancement!" Zirconia began to glow with a faint light. "I can tribute one Gem-Knight on my field to special summon one from my Graveyard!" Gem-Knight Zirconia disappeared. "I special summon Gem-Knight Lady Lapis Lazuli in attack position!" **[Gem-Knight Lapis Lv. 3 DEF:100/ATK:1200 Rock/Earth]**

"I activate its effect! I can send on Gem-Knight monster from my deck to the Graveyard to inflict you with damage once again!" Masumi explained, as she placed a card from her deck inside the graveyard.

"The monster deals damage based on the number of special summoned monsters so…" Misaki mumbled, before her eyes widened.

"That's 1000 Life Points!" cried Yuno. "Yuta get out of there!"

"This is the end!" Masumi yelled. "Go Lapis Lazuli! _Heavenly Light_!" The monster gathered light in its hands before firing it at Yuta, creating a small explosion. Dust soon covered the place where he once stood.

"H-he lost," Roy said, blinking.

Hokuto smirked. "Well that's that-"

"Not yet." Everyone turned to Cira, who had a small smile on her face. "He's still in this."

Roy looked back at the action field to see that the smoke was clearing. As he peered closer, he saw Yuta standing there with a trap card flipped open. **[Yuta LP: 900]**

Masumi frowned slightly. "You activated a trap card," she noted.

Yuta nodded. "Elemental Recharge," he explained. "It lets me gain life points depending on the number of Elemental HEROs on my field. I have one, so I gained 1000, which canceled out Lapis Lazuli's effect damage." He grimaced. "Though I was hoping not to use it so soon…"

"It doesn't matter," Masumi scoffed. "You're finished anyway. From my hand, I summon the monster Gem-Knight Alexandrite!" The gleaming pale Gem-Knight appeared on the field, with its arms crossed. **[Gem-Knight Alexandrite Lv. 4 ATK:1800/DEF:1200 Earth/Rock]** "I then activate its effect to tribute it and special summon one Gem-Knight Normal Monster from my Deck. I special summon Gem-Knight Crystal in attack position!" Alexandrite disappeared, replaced by a larger knight a giant crystal shoulder guards. **[Gem-Knight Crystal Lv. 7 ATK:2450/DEF:1950 Rock/Earth]**

"Battle!" Masumi shouted. "Gem-Knight Lapis Lazuli attacks Elemental HERO Flame Wingman." Lapis Lazuli shot another beam of light towards Flame Wingman.

"I activate my second trap!" Yuta said as another trap card in front of him flipped open. "Hero Barrier! I can negate 1 attack from one of your monsters if I control an Elemental HERO!" A large energy barrier formed in front of Flame Wingman, causing Lapis Lazuli's attack to dissipate.

Masumi looked somewhat frustrated. "Fine!" she shouted, jumping off of the building she was on. Her Lapis Lazuli caught her, before she reached the ground and set you down lightly. She grabbed an Action card from a step from the fire escape. "Action Spell! Hero's Charge! I increase Gem-Knight Crystal's attack by 500!" **[Gem-Knight Crystal ATK: 2450+500=2950]**

As Crystal charged at Flame Wingman, Yuta whirled around and began to run away, looking for an Action Card. "I need to find one… I need to find one…" he muttered, but, much to his horror, the area was completely empty.

"You can't run anymore!" Masumi yelled. "Gem-Knight Crystal destroy Flame Wingman!" Gem-Knight Crystal jumped up from the pavement, before diving down and delivering a kick straight to Yuta's monsters face. Flame Wingman shattered, as the force threw Yuta back and he landed several meters away.

 **[Yuta LP: 900-850=50]**

"I end my turn there," Masumi said. "This is your last turn," she said. "The moment it's my turn I'll activate Lapis Lazuli's effect and end it." She let out a small sigh and gave Yuta a look of pity. "It's gone off long enough."

"N-no, it's not," Yuta said, standing back up and placing a hand on his deck before faltering.

" _Who am I kidding?"_ Yuta thought, miserably. " _It's over. Any card that I draw will be useless. The cards in my hand are useless._ " He closed his eyes and dropped his hand away from his deck. " _I'm useless…_ "

Roy frowned. "Is he giving up?" he asked.

"Yuta…" Yuno seemed the most stricken about Yuta's beatdown.

"It's over," Hokuto said, leaning back and placing his arms behind his head. "It was over the moment it began."

Roy's heart sank. He looked over at Cira to see her reaction… wait. What was she doing with the window-?

"Yuta!" Cira yelled, having somehow opened the window that they were all watching the match through, by unbolting the sides.

Yuta looked startled, along with everyone else. "C-Cira-sensei?" he stammered, taken aback.

"Remember, why you are here in the first place!" she shouted, her eyes glaring down at her student. "Remember why you are on this field!"

Yuta blinked. Remember…? Remember what? His mind began to whirl as thought back to the events of the previous day…

xXx

Yuta sat nervously in the chair fidgeting frequently, trying his best not to meet the eyes of either Cira or Reiji Akaba, both of whom were in front of him sitting at a desk. His mother, a young thin lady, with the same shade of blue hair as him, was sitting in a chair next to him, looking frustrated. "What do you mean by _more_ money?" she asked, venomously, giving Yuta a look that made him shrink back into his chair some more.

Reiji gave her a cool look and adjusted his glasses. "The Leo Duel School is a prestigious school that aims to make the most pro duelists in the world. Thus, there's a large cost to attending, unless you meet some prior criteria."

"Are you saying he doesn't?" Yuta's mother asked sharply.

Reiji folded his hands together and sighed. "Mrs. Mayers…"

"Ms. Mayers," she corrected, stiffly. "My husband and I are divorced."

Reiji rolled his eyes. "Ms. Mayers… your son has a win-loss rate of just 20.32%," he explained, as Yuta winced. "He is currently taking remedial classes with this teacher here." He gestured to Cira, before continuing, "And he _hasn't_ been improving. At this point we may consider cutting him altogether, unless we receive more compensation for the extra tutelage we're giving him."

"More?" Ms. Mayers looked appalled. "I haven't been paying anything. Why am I only hearing about this now?"

"Dad has been…" Yuta cleared his throat as everyone turned to stare at him. "Dad has been paying for it."

His mother scowled. "Of course, he is."

Reiji frowned. "Nevertheless, if his win-loss rate falls under 20% then we'll have to ask for more money. LDS is a privately funded school after all, and I can't fuel all of my company's profits into it."

Ms. Mayers shook her head. "I can't afford that. I'll just take him out now."

"No, wait, but I-!" Yuta tried to argue, but his mother gave him a glare that made him fall silent.

"If I may…" Cira, who had been to the side watching the scene carefully, said. "Can I offer a suggestion?" When no one said anything, she continued, "Currently his funding is coming from his father and the only reason you would have to pay more is if his win-loss rate falls below 20. So, the logical thing to do is to keep himself above that number, correct?"

"Yes, and that's why I'm taking him out of the program," his mother countered, rolling her eyes.

Reiji and Cira exchanged a look. "How about this?" Reiji suggested. "I'll set up a match with a student of my choosing tomorrow and if Yuta, here, loses then you're free to apply him for disenrollment. But if he wins then he's free to stay without paying a dime as long as he improves his rate." He smiled. "Would that be fine?"

Ms. Mayer scowled. "Fine. Let's go, Yuta." She stiffly got up from her chair and walked out of the room. Yuta followed her out just as quickly, but not before quickly thanking both Reiji and Cira. The mother and son duo walked down the long hallway that led to the office and rounded a corner. There Yuta's mother froze and turned around fiercely. Yuta flinched, noting that she was not very happy.

"How long has he been doing this?" she asked.

Yuta didn't answer and instead looked down in shame.

"How long?!" she demanded.

"Five months," Yuta mumbled.

"And does he actually know what you're using it for?" she asked.

Yuta flinched. "I…I told him I was using it to fund a home economics club I was in," he said, honestly.

Ms. Mayer rubbed her temples. "Of course, he would believe that lie, the idiot. You can't even cook, anyway. Always knew how to waste his money on useless things." She glared at Yuta. "Is this why your grades in school have been falling? Because you're too busy playing a stupid card game?"

"It's not stupid!" Yuta protested.

"It is compared to becoming an engineer, isn't it?" His mother shot back.

"But it's what I want to do-!"

 _Smack!_

It was too fast for Yuta to even register. One moment he was speaking and the next his head was snapped to the side, his cheek stinging. He hesitantly touched his cheek, wincing slightly at how raw it felt. His mother, meanwhile, seemed to realize what she had done and her face softened. "You're not thinking this through, Yuta," she begged. "You're not going to get any better. Why keep trying something you clearly have no talent for?"

Her words stung Yuta more than the slap. And he knew that she was right. There was no point in trying when he had already failed so many times right. So… why _was_ he even trying?

xXx

" _Why am I even trying?_ " Yuta wondered again, as he stood there unable to even draw a card. Cira continued to yell behind him, but he tuned her out. " _I should just give up…_ "

"Realize!" Cira yelled, breaking Yuta out of his thoughts. "What are you doing?"

" _I'm clearly playing a stupid card game,_ " Yuta scoffed instead his mind, before pausing. If he thought, it was stupid then why was he here? Why was he dueling?

"Remember your goal!" Cira shouted once again.

"My… goal?" Yuta muttered. That was right. He had a goal. An image flashed in his mind. An image of him standing there in front of a roaring crowd and, in the front, his parents were cheering along with them. Shakily, he placed his hand on his deck.

Masumi regarded him with a look. "Are you finally giving up?" she asked, looking somewhat bored.

"No," Yuta muttered, as another memory surfaced in his mind.

 _He was young at that time, about five years old. His father had taken him to one of Yusho Sakaki's Action Spectacles and afterwards he had begged his father to get the man's autograph. His father, quite reluctantly, complied and Yuta met the legendary man._

" _So," Yusho said, as he signed the picture. "Do you want to be an Action Duelist when you grow up?"_

" _Yes!" Yuta immediately said, much to his father's displeasure._

" _I'm sorry, sir, but he's just a bit whimsical at times," Yuta's father began to apologize, before Yusho raised a hand._

" _Nonsense, there's nothing wrong with that." He patted Yuta on the head. "Listen, young man. Don't let anyone stop you from realizing your goals. You may not want to be an Action Duelist when you grow up and that's okay. Just remember that you should do what you want to do."_

"I have to remember to do want I want to do," Yuta murmured. "My goal is not to become an Action Duelist. But…" He clenched his hand. "It is to prove to myself no one can stop me from taking my own path in life!" he said, loud enough for everyone else to hear.

Cira visibly relaxed and Roy was surprised to see a small smile on her face. Had she ever smiled during this duel until now?

"Uh huh," Masumi said, looking unimpressed. "Just do your turn already."

Yuta looked at his deck. He had no idea what card would get him out of this situation. His hand was completely useless and his only useful monster was in the Graveyard. He would have to bet it on this draw. He took a breath and… "I DRAW!" he yelled, drawing a card from his deck, raising it above his head. He glanced at it and his eyes widened.

"Don't tell me he drew something bad," Roy muttered.

And then he smiled.

"From my hand, I activate the card Miracle Fusion!" Yuta said, placing the spell card on his disk. "Using this card, I can Fusion Summon a monster by using the cards in my graveyard as materials."

"What?" Masumi looked shocked. "From the Graveyard?!"

"I fuse Element HERO Sparkman and Elemental HERO Flame Wingman from my graveyard!" Yuta said, as his two monsters appeared before him. " _Hero of flame and air!_ " he began to chant. " _Combine yourself with the hero of electricity and become a shining new hero! Fusion Summon! Level 8! Elemental HERO Shining Flare Wingman!_ " **[Shining Flare Wingman Lv. 8 ATK:2500/DEF:2100 Warrior/Light]**

"Shining Flare Wingman attacks Gem-Knight Lapis Lazuli!" Yuta ordered as his monster flew up and dived down at Lapis Lazuli, its hand curled into a fist and glowing with a white light.

"Action Spell!" Masumi yelled, grabbing an Action Card laying on the street. "Hostage Taker! Now all your monsters can only attack Gem-Knight Crystal for the rest of the turn." She grinned, as a small dummy of a person appeared in Crystal's arms. "Sorry, Yuta, but it looks like you've failed."

"Shining Flare Wingman gains attack equal to the number of Elemental HEROes in my graveyard times 300!" Yuta shouted, as his monster's attacks suddenly shot up by 600. **[Elemental HERO Shining Flare Wingman ATK: 2500+600=3100]** "Currently I have two in the Graveyard! Elemental HERO Burstinatrix and Avion!" Shining Flare Wingman suddenly pivoted and sent a spiraling punch straight to Crystal's jaw. Crystal was thrown back and shattered, right in front of Masumi.

"So what?" Masumi coolly pointed out, as her life point dipped. **[Masumi LP: 2450]** "The moment you end your turn, I'll still activate Lapis Lazuli's effect to win."

"Shining Flare Wingman has another effect!" Yuta announced as a smirk grew on his face.

"What?!"

"When Shining Flare Wingman destroys a monster by battle I can deal damage based on the destroyed monsters attack!" Yuta explained.

"Gem-Knight Crystal has 2450 attack points, so…" Roy started to say.

'Masumi Life Points will drop to zero!" Yuno finished, a wide smile on her face.

"It's the end!" Yuta shouted. " _Shining Flare Burst!_ " Shining Flare Wingman formed a large beam of energy in its hands and fired it directly at Masumi, causing a mini explosion. Masumi was sent flying into the air and her last monster was destroyed and her life points fell.

 **[Masumi LP: 2450-2450=0]**

 **Yuta Wins!**

"Flare Wingman!" Yuta suddenly cried, jumping on its back. Shining Flare Wingman, seemingly understanding his message, dove towards the falling Masumi and caught her in her arms.

The girl blinked when she suddenly found herself in the arms of the hero. "T-thanks!" she said, blinking.

"No problem," Yuta grinned.

"But you do know I would've been just fine, right?" Masumi pointed out, her cool attitude returning.

"Uh huh…" Yuta let out a sigh, Shining Flare Wingman landed on the ground. Around him the Action Field was disappearing, as Cira had shut it down the moment that the duel ended. Masumi, ignored this and jumped out of Wingman's hands. She held her hand out to Yuta who looked at it blankly. "What?"

"A handshake," Masumi said, sounding somewhat irritated. "You won, but that shouldn't stop you from good sportsmanship, right?"

Yuta climbed off Flare Wingman's back, as it disappeared, and nodded numbly. After a couple of awkward seconds, he realized he wasn't doing anything and quickly took Masumi's hand and shook. "Y-you did great too," he stammered out. "I nearly lost."

"But you didn't," she reminded him. "So, congratulations."

Yuta's heart lifted. He had done it. He had actually done it.

"Yuta!" He turned around to see his friends along with Cira and Roy heading towards them, with Yuno in the lead. Hokuto hung back, looking somewhat disappointed. When the three of them managed to reach him, they all grinned.

"You actually won!" Misaki said. "Congrats!"

"We didn't think you could do it!" Naomi agreed.

"Glad you didn't tell me that upfront," Yuta nervously laughed.

Roy walked up to the boy, debating on what to say. "Nice job, kid," he complimented, as Yuta turned to him with a startled look. "Though that speech at the end was a bit cheesy at the end, in my humble opinion."

Yuta frowned. "It was?" He awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry I just got really into the moment and it all kinda came out…" Everyone started to laugh, which made him look even more embrassed.

Hokuto was the next person to reach Yuta. He grunted and scratched his head. "Listen… you did better than I thought you would," he said, before point a finger at Yuta. "But don't get me wrong. If I had faced you, I would've destroyed you."

"Why you!" Yuno growled, curling her hand into a fist.

Hokuto grunted, once again ignoring Yuno. "There's someone who's coming to your class tomorrow, who's way better than any of you, by the way. So, feel free to help him out if you even can." He shrugged and smirked.

Yuta blinked. "Uh sure thing?"

Roy was about to cut in, when he noticed that Cira hadn't joined them. He looked around and found her heading straight out of the doors. "Hey, wait!" he called out, running after her.

xXx

"Cira, wait!" Roy cried, bursting through the doors.

Cira, who had just been in the process of getting on her motorcycle, frowned. "What?" she asked, impatiently.

Roy took a moment to catch his breath and think of what to say. After a couple of seconds, he figured he better just confront her with all his evidence. "I-I saw you two nights ago," he said stumbling over his words. When Cira didn't say, or do anything, he continued with, "I saw you dueling against the guy… Kasai in that back alley. You used Dark Magicians and…" He gulped. Her was the kicker. "You're the Shadow Rider, aren't you?" He pulled out the roster sheet and showed it to her. "You dropped this in the alley. I found you here by using this."

Roy scanned her face to try and see what she was thinking, but Cira's face was impassive. Just when Roy opened his mouth to continue, Cira suddenly smiled and tore the class roster from his hands. "Hey!" the reporter cried.

"Oh, thank you!" Cira said, giving him a kind smile. "You see I'm pretty clumsy and I managed to lose this a while back. To think that it flew all the way to you! What luck! You're my savior!" She stuck out her tongue cheerfully at Roy. "Though I don't know anything about this 'Shadow Rider' and I don't know any Kasai. Maybe you got your facts wrong?"

Roy stared at her in horror. "B-But I saw you!" he argued, knowing that she was lying. He couldn't forget that face.

Cira slid up to him and placed her hand on his forehead. "You don't seem to have fever," she said, worriedly. "Maybe you drank something funny? Would you like me to call the hospital, _Roy_?"

And that was when Roy caught it. A devilish little smirk that escaped Cira's mask of worry. She knew that he knew that she was lying. And she found it hilarious.

Worst of all, Roy realized, without any admittance or any _more_ proof, he couldn't run her name, lest he was accused of making things up. Granted it was something seen in newspapers quite a bit, but Roy had too much self-pride (or loathing) to do the same here.

And Cira knew it.

Roy swallowed. "Um… no," he said, his mind racing. "But…" An idea hit him. "If you don't mind, can I come back tomorrow?"

Her mask dropped immediately. "What?" she snarled.

"As I said before I want to write a report on LDS." Now it was his turn to smirk. "And I figured your class would make the perfect starting point, wouldn't it?"

Cira grunted, knowing that she couldn't exactly stop him from coming anyway, and hopped on her bike. "Do what you want," she said, simply, before riding off.

Roy grinned. Finally, things were looking up for him.

"Wowww…" Someone behind him said, and Roy whirled around to see the five students from the class standing there. "I didn't know you liked her, sir," Yuta said to Roy.

"Pervert," Yuno muttered.

Roy blushed. "W-wait! I-It's not like that!" he stammered out, but the four students simply ignored him and began to make their way down the trail. "I said wait!"

"W-wait," Naomi blushed. "Him and her?"

"Never thought it would happen," Misaki said cheerfully.

"W-wait!" Roy cried again, running after them.

As they walked down the path, Yuta looked at his hand and clenched it. "I did it," he whispered to himself. "I actually did it." With a new smile and spring in his step, he began his long trek back home.

xXx

Roy stumbled back into his office with a sigh, glancing at a clock on a nearby wall. It had taken him some time to get down from the classroom and for him to have a taxi drive him back to work that it was now around 7 PM at night. He yawned and began to head towards his small desk, when he noticed that the building was strangely empty. "What the hell?" he murmured. He looked around for a couple of seconds, before finding everyone gathered around the television in the break room.

He tapped the shoulder of some random person. "What's going on?" he whispered.

His colleague blinked and turned to him. "You mean… you haven't heard of the Yuya Sakaki match with the champion?"

Mystified, he shook his head.

"Well, the kid did this some crazy thing called Pendulum and…" His buddy began to explain.

Roy frowned. "What the hell is Pendulum?"

xXx

"He won, sir," Cira said, as she walked into the large control center that measured all kinds of Summoning activity. Currently it was in an uproar, as Yuya's match had caused quite a lot of confusion. Reiji Akaba was currently sitting at the front watching the match.

He didn't bother to turn around. "And why are you telling me this?" he asked. "You were the one who set up the match, after all."

Cira seemed to hesitate. "I apologize, sir," she said quickly.

"Mmhm," Reiji nodded, his focus squarely on Yuya Sakaki's match playing on the big screen.

Cira eyed Yuya. "Would you like me to take care of him?"

Reiji waved his hand. "No need. I already have several ideas of how to go about this in my own way. You focus on your own mission." For the first time in the conversation, he turned to her to look her in the eyes. "Your _Defense Brigade_ as you want to call it."

Cira stayed quiet.

Reiji sighed and turned away. "It's up to who to choose who you want to trust," he said, his eyes narrowing as he watched Yuya pull of the Pendulum Summon. "But at the same time, let me ask. Do you really think those kids are capable?"

"Yes," Cira answered.

"Well, I'm not going to argue it," Reiji said. "Just know that the moment I see something go wrong, I'll be there." He let that threat hang in the air.

"Yes," Cira answered, before walking away and fading into the darkness.

Reiji focused his eyes back on the match at the exact moment where Yuya defeated his opponent. "Pendulum Summoning, huh…?" he muttered to himself.

* * *

 **Action Cards:**

 **Hero's Charge: Action Quick-Play Spell**

Effect: Target one monster you control. That monster gains 500 ATK until the End Phase.

 **Hostage Taker: Action Quick-Play Spell**

Effect: Only activate when an opponent's monster declares an attack. Target one monster you control and, until the end of the Battle Phase, your opponent can only target that monster for attacks.

 **Hero's Shield: Action Quick-Play Spell**

Effect: Target one monster you control. That turn that monster cannot be destroyed by battle, but damage calculation still applies.

* * *

Next Time…

The Failure Class gains two more students and while one of them seems completely normal, the other is brutal Duelist who enjoys crushing his opponents in Duels. To this end he challenges Cira to a duel, with the intent of leaving. Can Cira defeat her newest student and maybe even knock some sense into him?

Find out in… The Galaxy-Eyes Master!

* * *

 **And here is the next chapter! I really do hope everyone who read it enjoys it! Though I realize now that trying to keep this story updated every other week is probably too much for me to handle. So sporatic updates it is, then!**

 **As usual, reviews and constructive criticism are appreciated!**


	3. Chapter 3

**This is the chapter that truly bridges the gap from when this used to be a crossover with Assassination Classroom before I changed it up. Still I hope everyone enjoys. He's not the exact same character, I just kinda like the name.**

* * *

Chapter 3: The Galaxy-Eyes Master

Roy lay his head on the wooden desk and let out a load groan, as the rest of the students watched him awkwardly. "What's wrong with him?" Lily asked aloud, as she planted her backpack in the desk next to Roy.

Roy groaned.

"Nothing's wrong with him," Cira said a small smirk evident on her face. "He's just treasuring the time that he's having in this classroom." Still smirking deviously, she turned back to the chalkboard and continued her lecture.

Roy stared at the various patterns on the wooden desk, before overhearing Lily whisper to the big burly guy next to her. "Oi Akihiko. Aki. Aki. Aki."

"What?!"

"You got any matches on you? I wanna see if I can light reporter man's hair on fire." Hearing no response, she sweetened the deal. "I'll give you five bucks."

"…Fine."

Roy rolled his eyes. "Fine, fine," he said, looking up, only to find Lily holding a patch of matches getting ready to light on of them. "Wait you were serious?" he asked in horror, looking between Aki and Lily. "What the hell?!"

"Hey, man," Aki grunted, waving around the five dollars. "I made a profit don't blame me."

"Man, this sucks," Lily whined. "That's half of my allowance down the drain already!"

Roy opened his mouth to say something, only to be interrupted by a knock at the door. Everyone inside swiveled their heads to it as it opened up and staff member from the main building walked in followed by two boys about the same age.

The first one was about as tall as Roy himself and had a devil-like smile on his face. He had bright red hair and blue eyes and was wearing a grey school uniform. The other one was just shorter than the first one, with brown eyes and dark brown hair styled rather formally. He was wearing a pair of rectangular glasses on his face, along with a dark blue jacket and gloves and light brown khakis on his legs.

The staff member cleared his throat. "These two will be joining your class as of today." He gestured for them to introduce themselves.

The brown-haired boy went first. "My name is Jiro Hamasaki," he greeted, adjusting his glasses. "I'm pleased to make your acquaintance." He took a step back as signal for the red-haired boy to go.

However, he took his sweet time, instead preferring to give the class an informal wave. "Yo," he said simply. "Name's Karma Nagito. Happy to be here." He gave them all a grin, which only made them seem warier of him, Roy noticed.

"Take your seats," Cira said. Jiro took one in the back near the short girl, who hadn't been paying attention the entire time, Karma took a seat near the front near Yuta's group. They all gave him a strange look which he returned with a warm smile.

The visiting staff member wiped his brow. "Thank goodness," he muttered, giving Cira a nod before leaving the classroom.

The class went on as usual even with the two new members added in. Cira continued her lecture on Ritual Spell Cards and Ritual monsters that was continued from yesterday, until the end of class. As everyone began to pack up, aside from Roy who was hoping to stay after for questioning, Karma walked up to Naomi's desk and slammed his hand down on it.

Naomi looked up startled, as Karma leaned into her face. "Oi," he said, a leery grin stretching across his face. "Duel me."

"D-duel?" Naomi stammered out. "What, why?"

Karma shrugged. "Because it'll be fun," he replied. He eyed Cira behind him, who was watching the entire exchange rather calmly. "It's alright if we use the arena, right teach?"

Cira nodded. Before looking at Naomi for confirmation.

Naomi let out a nervous sigh. "Alright, fine," she mumbled.

Karma's grin stretched even wider. "Great!" he said, rather cheerfully. "Let's have some fun!"

Xxx

Roy sat down in the same seat he had during the match yesterday, happy that the duel between the two seemed to be one mainly for fun. The rest of class, apparently curious about their new classmate also filed into the room, along with, surprising Roy, Lily and her two friends. The only people not present were Jiro and the weird girl who always sat in the back.

"Why the hell did you drag me into this?" Akihiko grumbled, folding his arms.

"Same," the boy with the light blue hair and headband, who always followed the two, agreed. "I wanted to work today."

Lily pouted. "You guys made me miss the match yesterday and Yuta somehow _won_." Yuta flinched as she said this, but she apparently didn't notice. "I don't want to miss another cool-ass duel because you guys have 'important thing to do.'" She rolled her eyes.

"Homework's important," the boy with the headband pointed out.

"Eh." Lily shrugged. "It's not that important Shiniji."

"Right," Shinji drawled.

Roy decided to tune out the conversation and instead focused on the arena, specifically the two duelists who were facing each other. Cira clicked a couple of buttons on the console that she was operating. "Action Field On!" she said, as the action field appeared around the two duelists. The field itself was a small grassy one surrounded by a large river. In the center was a small shrine with cheery blossom trees surrounding it.

"Duelists locked in battle!" Karma said.

"Kicking the earth and dancing with their monsters!" Naomi continued.

"The storm through the field! Behold!"

"Dueling's next evolution!"

"Action… DUEL!" they both ended the chant together as the various action cards began to float down and around the two.

"Since, I was the one who challenged you, I'll let you go first," Karma said, giving her a small wink.

Naomi blinked. "U-uh sure!" she said, glancing at her hand. A smile tugged at her lips. She had the best hand she could've asked for. If she could last one turn, then she might actually have a chance to beat this guy and summon out her best monster. "First off, I activate the Continous Spell Shinobird Power Spot!" she said, as another small Japanese-like shrine materialized next to her. "I then set one monster and end my turn!" A horizontal backing of a monster appeared along with a shadowy hologram of a monster. "With that I end my turn!"

She looked back at her hand, her plan slowly forming in her head. " _Right_ ," she thought. " _The monster I set was Shinobird Crow. Its effect lets me discard a Shinobird monster from my hand to raise its defense. I'll discard Shinobaroness Peacock which will make its defense 3000 along with the 500 from Power Spot_." Her eyes narrowed. " _Then Crow returns to my hand during his End Phase and using Power Spot's second effect, I can add a Ritual Spell Card from my Deck to my hand and summon out Shinobaron Peacock_." She smiled softly to herself. " _It's perfect. As long as he doesn't summon something with 3600 or more attack power then I'm safe._ "

"My turn!" Karma announced drawing a card and smirked. "From my hand I activate the spell card Photon Sanctuary! This card lets me summon two tokens to the field!"

 **[Photon Token Lv.4 ATK:2000]**

 **[Photon Token Lv.4 ATK:2000]**

"Unfortunately, they can't attack," Karma said, with a half-hearted shrug. "But that's fine, since I'm tributing them to summon out my ace monster!" The two orbs of light in front of him vanished. "I Special Summon Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon!"

The large dragon loomed over Karma as it opened its eyes and stared down at Naomi. Karma gave it a grin, before looking back at Naomi, who was gripping her cards so card that a couple of them were bending. "It's fine," she muttered to herself.

"Next I activate Photon Lead!" Karma shouted, activating another spell card from his hand. "I can special summon one Level 4 or lower LIGHT monster from my hand. I choose Photon Crusher!" A large armored knight wielding duel-ended spiked club appeared on the field, brandishing its weapon at Naomi. **[Photon Crusher Lv.4 ATK:2000]**

"I'm still fine… I'm still fine…"

"I then normal summon another copy of Photon Crusher!" Karma exclaimed as another copy of the same monster appeared on his side.

"I'm… fine…. I'm fine…"

"Battle!" Karma yelled, as his dragon roared, making Naomi and all the spectators visibly flinch. "First my Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon attacks your face-down monster!"

Naomi watched as her Shinobird Crow flipped face up. "I activate Crow's effect!" she quickly shouted, sending ShinoBaroness Peacock to the graveyard. "By discarding a Spirit monster from my hand Crow gains the same amount of attack and defense as the discarded monster!" She chuckled nervously. "The monster I discarded was ShinoBaroness Peacock with 3000 defense!"

"I activate Photon Dragon's effect!" Karma shouted in response, as his dragon suddenly stopped in mid-charge. Its wings glowed with a yellow light as both it and Shinobird Crow vanished at the same time.

"W-What?!" Naomi asked, backing away. "How…?"

"Photon Dragon's effect lets me banish itself and any monster it was battling till the end of the turn," Karma explained. "But you don't have to worry about that. You field is empty now." He licked his lips.

Naomi's eyes went wide. "N-no…" Her head swiveled around to see if she could spot an Action Card anywhere.

"Both Photon Crushers attack you directly!" Karma ordered, as his two monsters rushed forward, albeit at a slower pace than the dragon.

There! Noami spotted an Action Card nearby in the branches of a small blossom tree. Biting her lip, she dashed towards it. However, a Crusher suddenly blocked her path, causing her to freeze!

"Attack!" Karma yelled, his eyes dancing in delight. The first crusher slammed its club into Naomi's chest, sending her flying back towards the second one. The second Crusher raised its club and slammed down on Naomi's body, crashing her body into the ground with a startling amount of force and knocking the poor girl out.

"Naomi!" Yuno yelled, her eyes wide in shock, seeing her friend lying on the ground covered in bruises.

 **[Naomi LP: 4000-4000=0]**

 **Karma Wins!**

Lily winced. "Brutal," she noted.

"New guy is more tough than he looks," Akihiko grunted in agreement.

Karma looked up at the window, the grin still stretching across his face. He extended his arms out. "See, Sensei?!" he exclaimed, as his monsters vanished. "I'm better than anyone here. As you can see, I don't deserve to be here." He shrugged, cockily. "So, if you would just sign the forms to send me back…"

"Please do," Misaki muttered bitterly.

Cira smiled, which Roy frowned at. One of her students were bashed to the ground and unconscious and she was smiling?

"Misaki, Yuta, Yuno," she said, eyeing the three. "Can you please carry Naomi out of here? Use the phone in the classroom to call the school's nurse up here."

Yuta blinked. "Al…Alright," he said uncertainly, as he followed both Misaki and Yuno down. As he entered the field, he did his best to avoid Karma's eyes, but he didn't have to. Karma's stare was firmly set on Cira.

"Well?" Karma grinned. "I don't see you writing."

"That's not exactly how it works," Cira explained, the sly smile still on her face. "Just beating all of my students doesn't mean that you get a graduation letter."

Karma grunted. "Fine," he said brandishing his Duel Disk. "Then what if I beat you? Can I get out of this dump then?"

In an instant, Cira opened the window and jumped out, landing rather easily on her feet. Roy stared, boggled by the fact that Cira didn't even seem hurt and was instead pulling out her Duel Disk, placing it on her arm. "Very well! Let's begin!"

Karma smiled thinly. "Action Duel Part 2, begin!"

Xxx

"Since you challenged me, I'll start," Cira said, calmly, eyeing her hand. "First of all, I activate the Spell Card Dark Magic Curtain to special summon one Dark Magician from my Deck by sacrificing half of my Life Points."

 **[Cira LP: 4000/2=2000]**

A black curtain appeared in front of Cira and Dark Magician burst out from it. He took his position in front of Cira, folding his arms. "I then set one card on the field and end my turn." A vertical backing appeared just behind Dark Magician.

Roy blinked. "She's already down to 2000," he pointed out.

Lily nodded her head. "She's taking a big risk with that. Karma managed to beat Naomi with double that amount of Life Points." She grinned. "Gutsy."

"But what if he summons that same dragon as before?" Roy asked.

"That doesn't seem likely." This time it was Shiniji who spoke up. "Probability would dictate that Karma wouldn't get the sae exact hand twice in a row,"

"Yeah!" Lily nodded. "Tranquility dictates!"

Akihiko scowled. "Probability," he corrected.

Shiniji just sighed.

"It's my turn!" Karma shouted. "I draw!" He glanced at his hand and grinned. "First of all, I can special summon Photon Thrasher from my hand when I control no monsters." A light blue soldier with a sword appeared. **[Photon Thrasher Lv. 4 ATK: 2100]**

"Then I normal summon Photon Crusher to the field!" **[Photon Crusher Lv.4 ATK:2000]**

Lily blinked. "Two level fours…" She frowned and scratched her head. "Man I thought I was the only one in the class…"

Roy frowned. "Only one what?"

"With Photon Thrasher and Crusher I build the Overlay Network!" Karma said, raising his hand into the air as a small cyclone of stars formed in the sky. " _Awaken the liege that serves the great galaxy drago and the galaxy itself. Onto the field to herald the ascension of you master! XYZ SUMMON! Rank 4! Starliege Lord Galaxion!"_

From the cyclone of stars, a monster burst out, taking the form of a flying warrior clad in white and light blue armor, wielding two plasm blades. It took its place in front of Karma, who had thin smile on his face. **[Starliege Lord Galaxion Rank.4 ATK:2000]**

"A XYZ monster," Lily replied. "Still… it doesn't seem powerful enough to get over Sensei's Dark Magician."

"It would've been smarter to just summon that dragon again," Shiniji pointed out, his eyes still glued to his smartphone.

Akihiko grunted. "He must have gotten lucky against Naomi. Replicating that perfect of a hand and field is impossible twice."

"I activate Galaxion's effect!" Karma shouted as the monster's Overlay Units disappeared into its two swords. "By detaching two Overlay Units I can special summon one Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon from my deck!" Galaxion plunged its swords into the dirt, a large blue circle inscribed with hieroglyphs on the outside. In an instant, out flew Karma's ace monster, Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon, taking its place next to Galaxion. **[Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon Lv.8 ATK:2800]**

"Oi, seriously?" Akihiko scowled. "How easily can he get to that thing?!"

"Not only that, but he's got enough damage on the board to take out Sensei!" Lily looked like she was panicking to Roy until she said, "This is so cool!"

Karma eyed Cira's Dark Magician. "Y'know I'm a bit of a perfectionist. Getting that perfect zero is always hard, but oh so satisfying." He smirked. "Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon attacks Dark Magician! I then activate its effect and vanish both itself and Dark Magician!"

"I activate my trap." Cira's set trap flipped open, as a large stone tablet appeared on the field, carved with a picture of a dog-headed pharaoh. "Eternal Soul makes all my Dark Magician unable to be targeted by card effects, as long as it remains on the field."

Karma scowled. "Fine! Galaxy-Eyes attacks Dark Magician!" The dragon rushed the magician, plunging its claws straight into the body of her monster. Dark Magician shattered, pushing Cira back a few feet so that she was near the small shrine stationed in the middle of the arena. She eyed it carefully, before turning her attention back to Karma. **[Cira LP: 2000-300=1700]**

"Next up Galaxion attacks you directly!" Karma grinned. "It's over!"

"I activate Eternal Souls' second effect!" Cira shouted. "I can special summon one Dark Magician from my Graveyard!" The Dark Magician that had just gotten destroyed, jumped through the stone tablet that was still hovering the air. **[Dark Magician Lv.7 ATK: 2500]**

Roy let out a sigh of relief. "She managed to survive, so far," he said. "But…"

Lily rolled her eyes. "But nothing!" she scolded. "Sensei's got this in the bag!"

Karma ground his teeth together. "Fine!" he said. "I set three cards on the field and end my turn!" Three facedown cards materialized in front of him.

Cira smiled, which seemed to only make Karma even angrier, and drew a card. She took a second to look at it.

"I activate my trap card, Reckless Greed!" Karma suddenly announced, as one of his set cards flipped face-up. "I draw two cards from my deck, but I have to skip my next two draw phases." He shrugged. "Fortunately, this duel won't last that long!"

Cira raised a brow. "Are you sure that is the smartest of moves, young man?" She smiled thinly. "You're betting the rest of the duel on those two cards, after all."

Karma shuffled the cards in his teeth, deciding not to answer. Who was she to question his moves?

"First I'll use Eternal Soul's effect to special summon another Dark Magician from my hand." The tablet shined once again as a second Dark Magician with its colors slightly muted emerged from it. **[Dark Magician Lv.7 ATK: 2500]**

"I'm somewhat surprised," Cira admitted. "I didn't think you would be using XYZ summoning. There are only two other people in the class that actively use such a summoning method."

"Two…?" Lily muttered.

Karma bowed mockingly. "Thank you, Sensei."

"Yes…" Cira's gaze suddenly turned fierce. "With the two Dark Magician on the field, I build the Overlay Network!" A black hole suddenly appeared at their feet, as the two magicians turned into dark purple energy and flew into it. " _The Magician of Ebony! The Magician whose illusions are unmatched that will destroy the feeble minds of all! I beseech thee! XYZ Summon! Rank 7! Ebon Illusion Magician!"_ Another magician with long blue and black robes and long golden hair, flew out of the hole, with two lights circling it. **[Ebon Illusion Magician Rank.7 ATK: 2500]**

"A…A XYZ monster?!" Karma took a step back, and clenched his fist. "S-So?! That doesn't change anything! If anything, it's gotten worse! It only has 2500 ATK points!"

"I activate Ebon Illusion's effect!" Cira announced. "By detaching one Overlay Unit I can special summon one Dark Magician from my deck." One of the Overlay Units circling Ebon Illusion disappeared into the staff it was carrying in one hand, and the magician pointed to a space right next to it. A small portal appeared, where Cira's final copy of Dark Magician flew out.

"Dark Magician attacks Starliege Lord Galaxion!" Cira ordered. Dark Magician fired a large beam of purple energy at Galaxion shattering it.

 **[Karma LP: 4000-500=3500]**

"I then activate Ebon Illusion's second effect! When Spellcaster Normal Monster attacks, I can target one card on the field and banish it! I target…" She pointed a finger at Karma's dragon. "Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon!"

Karma gritted his teeth. "Not so fast!" he cried, as another set flipped up. "I activate the Quick-Play Spell Photon Stream of Destruction!" He smirked. "I can normally only activate this spell on my turn, but since I control a Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon I can activate it on your turn!"

Cira's eyebrow arced. "And?"

"It lets me target one monster on the field and banish it!" Karma pointed at Ebon Illusion Magician. "I banish that! My dragon may still get banished but I'm not letting it go down without a fight!" Photon Dragon reared its head back and fired a stream of bright energy at the magician while Ebon Illusion Magician fired of beam of black energy at it. The two met at the center and exploded, the force causing both Ebon Illusion Magician and Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon to disappear at the same time.

Cira had watched the entire thing passively, as she made her way the small shrine. She glanced inside of it, before looking back at Karma. "I set one card on the field and end my turn."

"My turn!" Karma's hand made its way to his deck, before he paused. "Unfortunately, due to the effect of Reckless Greed, I cannot draw this turn." He grinned. "But that's fine! I activate my trap, XYZ Reborn!" His final set card flipped up. "I special summon Starliege Galaxion from my graveyard and XYZ Reborn becomes and Overlay Unit for it." **[Starliege Lord Galaxion Rank.4 ATK:2000 OU:1]**

"I activate Starliege Lord Galaxion's effect again!" Karma shouted. "By detaching one Overlay Unit I can special summon a Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon from my hand." **[Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon Lv.8 ATK:2800]**

Karma laughed, as he gazed at the field around him. "Well, it looks like we're back to the start, aren't we?" His grin looks shaky as he eyed the trap card that Cira had set. "That… your dumb strategies won't work on me again! Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon attacks your Dark Magician!"

"Dammit." Roy gripped his seat looking completely invested in the match. "If this goes through then she loses!"

Lily gave him a dry look. "Man, you really haven't learned anything have you." She absently scratched her cheek and giggled. "Sensei's not your average duelist after all."

Roy blinked. Did they…? "Yeah she certainly is," he said carefully, wondering if Lily was trying to give him some sort of hint.

"Yeah, right!" Lily grinned. "I didn't even know that she had XYZ monster. She's amazing."

Roy's spirits dropped. "So, they really don't know," he muttered. He couldn't pry too deep. One wrong misstep and he was pretty sure that Cira would kill him. Both figuratively and literally.

"I activate the trap card Magicians' Defense!" Cira shouted, as her second trap flipped up, giving her magician a strange ethereal light that surrounded it. "Any damage I take while a control a spellcaster is halved."

"But it's still destroyed!" Karma countered.

"Next I activate this action spell!" Cira reached her hand into a small hole that was in the small rock shrine and pulled out a card. "Shrine's Prayer! By paying 300 life points…" **[Cira LP: 1700-300=1400]** "I can negate my monster's destruction once per turn!" The light surrounding Dark Magician grew brighter as Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon's breath hit it squarely in the chest, but Dark Magician was still standing after the fact. **[Cira LP:1400-150=1250]**

"You…" Karma blinked, before gritting his teeth. He eyed his surroundings. "I should've…"

"You should've been paying attention to your surroundings?" Cira suggested, her mouth turning up at the frustration that Karma was clearly showing on his face. "This is an Action Duel, young man. Did you really think that playing vanilla would get you anywhere in this? Or perhaps…" Her smile stretched wider. "In your haste, you forgot?"

Karma was silent.

"Well? Am I right?" Her hand reached for her Duel Disk. "If you want we can cancel this match right now, if you aren't fully prepared for an Action Duel-?"

" _Don't you dare."_

Cira paused her hand right over her Duel Disk, her brow perked up, as she carefully watched Karma. The boy glared right back into her eyes, a strange fire lit up in his pupils. "We're continuing," he said, coldly, before he suddenly started to move, for the first time in the Duel. He quickly jumped onto the branch of a nearby tree, jumping from branch to branch until he reached the top. Taking one more leap, he snatched a card from the top, and twisted himself so that he fell back-first into a nearby river. Luckily it was deep enough not to hurt him, and he emerged a few seconds later his body drenched in water. "I activate this action spell!" he shouted. "Legend's Prayer! By giving up 500 Life Points…" **[Karma LP:3500-500=3000]** "I can destroy one spell or trap card on the field and increase one monster's attack by 1000!"

"So that means-!" Roy turned to his right to see Yuta there, apparently back from taking care of Naomi. Misaki nor Yuno didn't seem to be with him, so he concluded that the two of them were still with Naomi. Not that any of that mattered now, as he turned back to the match, just in time to see Karma point his finger at the trap card Magicians' Defense.

The trap card he pointed to shattered into pieces as he next pointed to his XYZ monster right next to him. **[Starliege Lord Galaxion ATK:2000+1000=3000]** "Galaxion attacks Dark Magician!" Galaxion soared forward, slicing Dark Magician in two.

"I activate the effect of Magicians' Defense!" Cira announced, just as her Life Point dropped. **[Cira** **LP:1250-500=750]** "I can special summon one spellcaster from my graveyard when the card leaves the field! Return Dark Magician!" Once again, her Dark Magician was summoned onto the field. "I then activate the effect of Magician of Dark Illusion from my hand." She flipped the card in her hand to show Karma. "When I activate a spell or trap card's effect on my opponent's turn, I can special summon this card from my hand!" A shadowy being formed itself next to Dark Magician, making itself into a copy of its cousin with glowing yellow eyes. **[Magician of Dark Illusion Lv.7 ATK: 2100]**

"Man, she isn't backing down at all," Lily muttered. "She ended his turn with more monsters than she started with. She's good."

"Yeah, but…" Yuta winced. "I think Karma might've misplayed there."

"What do you mean?" Roy asked. "He still dealt some damage, right?"

"Right but…"

"You misplayed," Cira said suddenly, echoing Yuta's words.

Karma's face turned sour. "What?"

"Eternal Soul, when leaving the field, destroys all the monsters I control," Cira explained as she drew a card for herself. "If you had destroyed that card instead then you would've won. But in your haste…" She let the sentence hang there letting Karma digest the statement.

"S-So?!" Karma waved his arm, as if dismissing Cira's statement. "I can still-!"

"You're too reckless," Cira cut in.

"You…"

"Perhaps you should learn to think before you leap," she continued, eyeing her student with careful eyes, as Karma slowly grew angrier and angrier. "Understand that-"

" _Shut. Up."_

Cira paused, as she noticed the face of complete fury present on Karma. "Be quiet. Don't you dare… Stop underestimating me. Everyone just has to _STOP!"_ He panted, his face now completely red.

"Hmph." Cira took a glance at Karma. "It's my turn, anyway." She glanced at her hand and smiled. "From my hand, I activate the spell card Thousand Knives. With it I can destroy one monster on the field as long as I control a Dark Magician. I'll destroy…" She paused, looking between Karma's two monsters. "Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon."

Karma moved quickly. He dashed forward past Cira, whipped his head back and forth looking for any sort of Action Card that would save him.

Nothing.

Knives floating in the air materlized around Dark Magician, as it pointed its staff at Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon. They all flew at the dragon cutting it into pieces. Karma grimaced and looked down the cliffside that circled the entirety of the field. He could spot something in the water at the bottom of the small cliff.

He jumped.

"What the-?!" Roy said, as he watched Karma jump off a literal cliff.

"He's crazy!" Lily cried, grinning.

"He must be desperate," Yuta muttered, wincing, remembering his own duel just the day before. He understood that feeling.

Karma fell, his mind too drunk on adrenaline to register the fact that he could die. He could only replay the words that Cira had told him only moments ago.

He was too _reckless_.

So, she was exactly like everyone else. He had a single thought that she might've been different from others given how the other students clearly looked up to her. He thought-

Karma grimaced. No, everyone was the same. Everyone underestimated him.

Xxx

"Hello?" Karma opened the door to his sensei's office, where a young man with brown hair and square rimmed glasses sat behind. "You wanted me, teach?"

"Sit down," the teacher said, gesturing to a chair in front of him. "I have something to discuss with you. Something very important."

With a cocky grin, Karma plopped himself into the chair and stuck his hands into his pockets. Despite trying to look uninterested, it was clear that he was hanging onto whatever word his teacher would say next.

The teacher removed his glasses and massaged his temples. "Karma, your last match…"

Karma smirked. "You saw?" He shrugged, smirking. "That kid had no idea what was coming to him. He was a total newbie. Even then, I didn't think I would beat him in one turn like that. Guy needs to quit while he's ahead. Right?"

"That's exactly the issue." His teacher let out a sigh. "The board has informed me that you're too reckless."

Karma blinked. "What?"

The teacher handed him a vanilla folder. Karma flipped through it seeing all his information from the Leo Duel School. His grades, his deck, his friends… everything. "We'll be transferring you to the Failure Class next week. The board thought it would be best to… change your attitude."

"You're kidding me, right?" Karma managed to choke out, swallowing his surprise. "You're the one who taught me." He clenched his fist. "I'm the reason you were promoted to Head of XYZ Division. And now you're getting rid of me?!"

"Karma, your tendencies are worrying the student body. Remember that this is a duel school. One that doesn't promote the type of dueling you practice in. It is one that promotes the entertaining the audience as the once great Yusho Sakaki once did."

Karma slammed his fist down on the desk. "You're the one who taught me to duel that way! If it weren't for me, you would've never made it in here!"

"That's enough Karma!" The teacher said sternly, standing up and glaring at the red-haired boy with a glare. "Take a step back and understand your position. Besides." The teacher scoffed. "Your talent is nothing more than that. With your mindset, you improving in the near future just isn't possible. You're not cut out to be an Action Duelist." His voice went soft. "As your teacher, I know you the best. Just give up, Karma."

Karma gritted his teeth. "You're underestimating me."

"I'm not-"

"Yes, you are!" Karma shouted, snatching up his folder from the floor where it had fallen. "Fine I'll show you." He gave his teacher… no, _enemy_ , a rather forced grin. "I'll get out of that stupid cram school day one. Then I'll come back and become the best damn duelist in this stupid school. What do you say to that?"

His teacher shook his head. "I say that you're expecting too much out of yourself."

Xxx

Karma gritted his teeth as the scene played inside of his head. "Galaxion!" he shouted suddenly, as his last monster flew right below him and caught him in midair. The two of them flew down to the small ocean that existed below. Heading towards Karma's shining light.

"I activate the effect of Magician of Dark illusion!" Cira said, as said monster suddenly started to grow with dark energy. "When I activate a spell card while I control this monster I can special summon one Dark Magician from my deck." Dark Illusion swung its staff to the right, where a dark portal was made. Another Dark Magician flew out of it, landing next to the it. "Dark Magician attacks Lord Galaxion!"

One of her Dark Magicians flew down and fired a bolt of dark energy from its staff at Karma. It hit Lord Galaxion in the back, destroying it and sending Karma flying into the water below. " _Shit…_ " Karma thought, as he sank. " _I can't…_ " [Karma LP: 3000-2500]

"Is it over?" Roy asked.

Suddenly, Karma's head burst out of the water coughing it up. He held up a card in his hand grinning. "I got it!" He looked up, while threading water, to see Cira staring impassively down at him. "I activate the action spell Souls' Prayer!" An ethereal white light surrounded Karma. "I can only activate this card when I control no other cards on the field and for the rest of the turn I take no battle damage." He let out a breath. "However… however at the end of the Battle Phase I take damage equal to the number of times I was directly attacked times 800."

Cira's eyes flashed. "Very well. Magician of Dark Illusion attack him directly." Dark Illusion fired a bolt of energy at Karma which was deflected by his shield. "Dark Magician!" It did the same, but it was deflected just the same. "I end my battle phase."

Karma smirked, just before the shield around his body crackled. Instantly, electricity began to fly off of him shocking him in the process! Karma grit his teeth and withstood the extreme pain that was running through his body. It was only for a few seconds but it felt like it had lasted forever. **[Karma LP:2500-1600=900]**

"Hehe…" Karma wiped some spittle off the edge of his mouth as he swam back to shore. "Sucks. I'm still not finished yet."

Cira smiled. "You are an excellent duelist," she complimented. "I set one card on the field and end my turn."

"It is," Karma mumbled. "And this is the turn that I win this! I call that this will be my final turn!" He glanced at his hand. "From my hand, I activate the Equip Spell Galaxy Zero! With this I can special summon a Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon from my Graveyard and equip is with that spell card." Karma's signature dragon was special summoned back to field. **[Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon Lv.8 ATK:2800]**

"It's back…" Roy muttered.

"Impressive once again," Cira noted.

"That's not all…" Karma said, holding up another card in his hand. "I activate the Action Spell Legend's Prayer!"

Cira blinked. "How…?"

"Got it from when I dived down in the water," Karma replied. "That first action card wasn't the only thing hiding in there." He shook his head. "Anyway, Legend's Prayer lets me destroy one trap card on the field and raise one of my monster's attack by 1000." He smirked. "This time I'm not falling for your tricks! I destroy Eternal Soul!" Cira's trap card shattered.

She grunted, just as the rest of her monster shattered. "Unfortunately, since Eternal Soul was destroyed, all my monsters are destroyed as a result."

"She's undefended." Yuta frowned.

"And Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon gains 1000 ATK!" **[Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon ATK: 2800+1000=3800]** Karma grinned. "BATTLE! Galaxy-Eyes attacks you directly! This game-!" His grin only grew wider. "IS MINE!" Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon roared matching its duelist's enthursiam and flew forward its claws glowing, as it raced towards Cira.

Cira smiled.

Roy blinked. "What is…?"

"But you have learned nothing! I activate my trap card!" Cira said, her trap card flipping face-up. "Magic Cylinder! Your attack is negated…" Galaxy-Eyes stopped in mid-flight. "And you take damage equal to the amount of the monster whose attack was negated!"

"What?!" Karma cried as a sudden blast coming from the trap card, blasting the ground beneath his feet. He flew back as his Life Points dwindled away. **[Karma LP: 900-3800=0]**

 **Cira Wins!**

"She… she won." Roy let out a sigh of relief.

"I…I lost," Karma said, staring blankly at the single card in his hand. "But… but." His hands went to his face. "In such a distasteful way?"

"You lost because you were reckless." Cira called to him, from up top. "It's as I've been telling you. You rush in too blindly instead of really thinking through your field and options-!"

"I said shut up!" Karma gritted his teeth and slammed his fist into the ground with surprising force. "You don't know anything about me!"

Cira went quiet, as Karma continued. "All those stupid people in that stupid school pushed me down just because they didn't like me! I was one of the best! So why am I stuck here of all places?!"

Cira hesitated. "I do not know why you are here," she admitted. "But perhaps if you allow me to be your teacher you'll learn from your mistakes," she said softly. "You'll be able to improve yourself. Perhaps." The action field disappeared from around them, leaving the two of them standing on the same level. She held out her hand to Karma.

Karma laughed. "I don't need another teacher to betray me again. I'm perfect…" His laughing stopped. "Perfect…." He had suffered his first loss in years. "I guess I'm no longer that, huh…?" He eyed her outstretched hand. "You're a good teacher, huh?"

"Perhaps."

"Hmph." Instead of standing up, Karma stood up. "I'll think about it." He looked away. "See ya, teach." He waved and headed out the arena, quickly disappearing from view.

"Well that's it," Lily sighed, and leaned back in her chair. "He's kinda of a sore loser ain't he?"

"Yeah, but…" Roy was looking at Cira. She had a giant smile on her face. "Cira seems pretty happy for some reason."

Cira caught him looking and gave everyone up there a stern glare. "Class is dismissed everyone. We'll finish our lesson tomorrow. Remember to bring the homework that I assigned everyone."

"Yes, Sensei!"

Xxx

Naomi absentmindedly picked at the bandage covering the right side of her face. She had passed out during her duel with Karma, yesterday and pretty much missed everything that had happened afterward. Both Yuta and Yuno had filled her in about the duel between her sensei and Karma, and needless to say, she was very impressed.

She let out a sigh and considered tearing the bandage right off of her face. She wasn't badly hurt, with only a couple bruises on her legs and some scratches. What had truly been hurt was her pride or what little of it still existed. At this point it would be better if she-!

Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the door being thrown wide open, right in the middle of one of Cira's lectures. All eight students and the two adults turned their heads to the door, where Karma was waiting. He nodded. "Can I come in?" he asked. When no one answered him, he took this as a sign and walked in. Naomi's breath stopped when she realized that he was heading straight for her.

He stopped right in front of her desk and the two awkwardly stared at each other for a couple of moments. "I'm sorry," he finally said.

"Huh?" Naomi blinked.

"I'm sorry," he repeated, plainly. "I shouldn't have gotten so intense yesterday and hurt you like that. It was my fault. I'm just glad you're okay."

"Uh…" Naomi gave him a weird look. "Right."

"And you…" Karma turned around to face Cira.

"Yes?"

"I'm not here for any sort of stupid lesson," Karma said. "I'm not here to be taught about the basics of dueling like the rest of these people. What I'm her for…" He grinned. "Is to learn how I can finally beat you in the future. As long as it takes. As many classes I have to sit through. I'll beat you… Sensei."

Naomi stared at Karma. What he had said was not the hand of friendship like she had expected.

What he had said was a declaration of war.

Cira, to her credit, seemed to take this in grace. "Yes, well I'm sure you'll be able to overcome me in the future." He eye twinkled. "However, for now you're a part of this class. Meaning you have to follow the class rules."

Karma frowned. "What do you mean?"

"You were late," Cira explained.

"So?"

A few minutes later, Karma was standing in the front of the room with two large buckets of water in his hands. He was trying to act calm and composed, but it was clear to everyone in the room that he was struggling to stay upright. Cira seemed to be holding back a laugh. "Since you were late to class today, this is your punishment. You can ask one of your classmates for the notes today."

"I can do it," Yuta offered.

"There you go," Cira said, a playful smile on her face as she watched Karma struggle with the buckets.

"Still…" Yuno said, looking over Karma. "You and that Hokuto guy? It doesn't seem like you guys would get along. It's pretty impressive that you two are friends."

Karma snorted. "Hokuto? That loser? Sorry I never cared for him."

Yuta blinked. "Wait, you're not his friend. Then who…?" He looked behind him at the Hamasaki, who was looking out the window, not even paying attention to the conversation at hand.

He caught Yuta looking and scowled. "What?"

"Nothing!" Yuta said quickly. "Nothing at all…"

Roy let out a sigh as he wrote a small note in his notepad. "This class's troubles never seem to end," he muttered to himself. "But I'm sure these kids can persist through it all." He smiled. Yeah, he knew he was right. These kids were strong.

Able to hold up to any kind of hurting that may come their way.

* * *

 **Action Spells**

 **Legend's Prayer: Action Quick-Play Spell**

Effect: Target one Spell/Trap card and one monster you control. Destroy the Spell/Trap card and the monster you targeted gains 1000 ATK. After this effect resolves, you lose 500 Life Points.

 **Shrine's Prayer: Action Quick-Play Spell**

Effect: You can activate this card on your opponent's turn directly from your hand. Once per turn, you can negate one monster's destruction on the field. Lose 300 Life Points once this effect resolves.

 **Souls Prayer: Action Quick-Play Spell**

Effect: You can activate this card on your opponent's turn directly from your hand, but can only activate it if you control no cards on the field. You take no battle damage this turn. At the end of the battle phase take damage equal to the number of time your opponent's monsters' attacks times 500.

* * *

Next Time…

Yuno and Misaki are frequenting their favorite card store, when someone who Yuno claims a rival appears. Enraged, Yuno challenges her to a duel with the intent of never seeing her again. Can Yuno win against her rival and come out on top? Or will she lose her one chance to prove herself?

Find out in… The Rivalry Between Us!

* * *

 **I'm not the biggest fan of how this duel ended up. I only find out near the end that Eternal Soul nukes your board when it is destroyed. It kinda worked out in the end, but I felt I could've made this chapter a bit better during the duel. But I couldn't exactly find a good way to change it up. Oh well.**

 **In any case I'll be updating this more frequently (at least I hope so) during the summer so I hope everyone who is following this is looking forward to it!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Yes this is inspired by Assassination Classroom. *glances at first chapter***

* * *

Chapter 4: The Rivalry Between Us

Yuno blearily looked at herself in the mirror, grimacing at the dark bag underneath her eyes. Yesterday had been a tiring day, especially with Naomi getting knocked out like that. She had been extremely worried and what she had heard from Yuta after Cira had dueled him was that Karma had left without so much as checking on her wellbeing.

She had decided that she didn't particularly like the guy.

"Sis! Hey Sis! Yuno!"

A clamor of voices right outside of the door to her small room startled her out of her thoughts. She turned around with an irritated look and pounded on the door herself. "Hey! What did I tell you guys about pounding on my door?!" Her only answer was a chorus of giggles and feet pounding away on the old wood.

With a sigh, Yuno quickly got changed into her school uniform and left her room. Thankfully, the other orphans seemed to all be in the bathroom so she managed to make it down the stairs and into the kitchen without much difficulty. She wrapped an apron around herself and nodded to her older brother. "Whatcha making today, Ray?"

Ray, who was wearing his own apron, looked over and smiled. He looked a lot like Yuno with short-cropped green hair and golden eyes. He too wore an apron. "Pancakes," he replied with a smile, turning back to the stove. "The little ones were asking for it for an entire week remember?"

"Oh yeah!" Yuno cheerfully, grabbing some bacon from the fridge. "Can I…?"

"No."

"Awww…" Yuno pouted, but put the meat back. "Do you need my help for anything, then?"

"Um… Can you make some more pancake batter?" Ray asked. "I kinda overestimated how much I was supposed to make."

"No problem!" Yuno grabbed the ingredients from the fridge and cupboards before beginning to mix them all into a large mixing bowl.

"So, how's Dueling School?" Ray asked, out of the blue.

Yuno froze for just a second. "It's good," she answered, carefully. "Fun. Misaki is with me."

"Nothing else?" Ray asked. "Two nights ago, you wouldn't stop talking about that boy Yuta and his duel." Yuno blushed, as Ray continued. "Still, I'm thankful."

Yuno blinked. "For what?"

"Your scholarship of course," he replied. "Ever since you started going to that school you've become livelier. You've even made some friends against all odds, especially with your personality."

She scowled. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Ray laughed. "In any case, I'm just thankful. That scholarship and the money we're receiving from the school is really helping this family." He gave her a smile. "So, thank you, Yuno. You really saved us."

"You're welcome," Yuno said, ignoring the growing pit of guilt growing in her stomach, as she passed the bowl that she had been working on over to Ray. "Hey, did the mail come around yet?"

"Why do you ask?"

Yuno fidgeted uncomfortably. "Just curious."

"I think so… but before you go and check, mind serving breakfast to the kids?" Ray was staring a nearby clock. "At this point I might be late to work."

"Sure thing." Yuno grabbed the plate that Ray was using to stack the pancakes, as Ray tore out of his apron and rushed back upstairs. She headed out of the kitchen where all the kids were waiting expectantly. The lot of them stayed quiet and patient, as she went around to each of them and served them their breakfast. Just as she was finishing up serving, Ray came back down wearing a suit and tie.

"I'm leaving now," he said, waving to them all. The orphans all waved back as he went out of the door.

With him gone, Yuno ordered the rest of them to get ready and did her best to help them out before the bus would get there. Luckily her classes didn't start until after they all were on the bus so she had some time before she would have to get ready, herself.

"You're going to duel school again?" The oldest one of all of them, Fern, asked. He might've been the oldest one, but he was still only in elementary school.

"Yeah," Yuno replied. "I'll probably bring Misaki around again to play with you guys again. Who knows maybe I'll bring Yu-!" She quickly shut up.

Fern didn't seem to hear her. "You think that I could go to LDS one day?" he asked her.

Yuno shrugged. "Perhaps. You just have to try."

"Mm…" Fern didn't say anything else.

After that, the rest of the morning passed on in silence. Yuno waved and smiled as they all entered the bus, but it quickly dropped when the vehicle moved out of view. With a sigh, she headed to the old shack's mailbox and checked inside. Her stomach dropped the moment she saw a small package addressed to her.

With a heavy pit in her stomach, she grabbed the package and headed back into the shack. Opening it on the table where the children had eaten their lunch, she withdrew a small syringe along with a return address and a couple of bandages. Rolling up her sleeve and wiping a spot on her left arm with a wet towel, she then held syringe up to her arm with the point pressed ever so lightly against her skin.

She let out a deep breath. She could do this. She had done it plenty of times before. She could-!

Yuno winced as the needle pieced her skin and quickly began to draw her blood into the syringe. Honestly, she didn't care what doctors said. This really fucking _hurt_ every time she had done it.

After she was done, Yuno wrapped a bandage around the wound and quickly repackaged the syringe with the return address. She eyed the return address for a couple of seconds. "Industrial Illusions," she muttered. "Thank you for this opportunity."

Xxx

"That guy is a real piece of work, isn't he?" Yuno asked Misaki, as they were walking back from Cira's class that day, having witnessed Karma coming back and declaring his "war" against their sensei. "He's pretty arrogant. Annoying, too."

"I'd have to agree," Misaki said with a dejected nod. "He doesn't seem to be the most pleasant of people." She shook her head. "But that aside where are we going today?"

"Grace's place," Yuno answered almost immediately. "I wanted to buy some of the kids a couple of cards."

"Ah." Misaki nodded, before hesitating. "How about your parents? Are they

still…?"

"They're still locked up," Yuno confirmed, with little emotion in her voice. "And they aren't due to get out anytime soon." She frowned. "I've told you this before, haven't I?"

"Yes, well." Misaki sighed. "I thought something may have changed."

"Well nothing did," Yuno said shortly. "Anyway, we're here… What's going on?" Yuno grinded to a halt, frowning at the large crowd that had formed in front of a small shop with its name, "Grace's Card Emporium" in large neon letters right above the entrance. It was a small dingy building with not much to it, but the large crowd of teenagers and children trying to force their way in would suggest otherwise.

Misaki shrugged, looking about as confused as Yuno. "A sale, perhaps?"

"She never has a sale." Yuno scowled and stomped over to the small crowd that had formed. She tapped the shoulder of a young boy near the edge. "Hey, what's going on here?" she asked.

The boy turned around and scowled. "Lady, you seriously don't know what's going on?"

"Lady?!" Yuno cried indignantly. Behind her, Misaki chuckled.

"Reiko Tenmu!" the boy continued. "You know the Princess of Leo!? She's one of the best duelists in the entire city! She's doing a promotion with this store!" He gave both girls and incredulous look. "How have you not heard of her?!"

Yuno gritted her teeth. "Oh, I've heard of her. Trust me." With a huff, she pushed past the kid and began to make her way through the thick crowd, with Misaki following her looking worried. After pushing past guy after guy, she finally found herself inside the store and in front of the counter. Ignoring the cries of protest around her, she planted herself on a nearby seat and stared at the cashier.

The cashier was a young woman with long black hair wearing a simple T-shirt and jeans. She frowned at Yuno the moment that she walked up to the counter. "Yuno? What are you doing here?"

"Grace," Yuno hissed, as Misaki managed to catch up to her. "Why the fuck did you hire Reiko? Don't you know who she is?"

Grace raised her brow, looking between the two girls. "Hello to you, too I guess. And Reiko's here to promote the store. I made a deal with LDS for this." She suddenly looked suspicious. "Why the sudden interest?"

"I just don't like her here," Yuno grumbled, glaring at Reiko out of the corner of her eye, where the young "princess," was talking to the crowd with a wide smile. She was wearing a rather regal dress that was a bit too fancy for the situation and had her pink hair tied into two ringlets.

Yuno was in a bad move for the rest of the hour as even the press came to store and interviewed Reiko. Soon enough however the crowd and press dissipated, as Misaki and Yuno played cards as they waited. With a sigh, Reiko sat down on the opposite side of the counter. She glanced at Yuno for a second before turning back to Grace. She sniffed haughtily. "Peasants the lot of them," she muttered.

Grace frowned. "Um… right. Thanks for doing this though. My store's never seen so much customers. If you continue to spread the good word then I'll be loaded." She paused. "Eventually."

Misaki narrowed her eyes. "Perhaps it'll happen sooner than we all expect," she said sweetly.

The store owner frowned. "Uh…sure?"

Yuno ignored the two and instead glared at Reiko. "So, what are you doing here?" she asked the girl coldly.

Reiko didn't even bother to face her. "Promoting a dingy business out of the goodness of my heart. What do you think? Speaking of which, where is the payment you promised me, Miss Grace."

"Ah right." Grace slid her an envelope. "Here ya go."

"What's that? Payment?" Misaki asked.

"Nothing to concern your pretty little head about, my second favorite customer," Grace replied, cheerfully. "Just a little business transaction."

"Yes..." Reiko peeked inside the envelope. "Business transaction."

Misaki didn't seem to buy it, but Yuno was focused on a different matter entirely. She slammed her hands onto the counter and strode forward towards Reiko. "Seriously, what are you doing here?"

Reiko gave her a dry look. "I just said what I was doing here, commoner. Perhaps your ears may need some checking? Get some hearing aids, my dear."

"You seriously don't remember me?" Yuno fumed.

"Should I?"

Yuno stamped her foot loudly, drawing the attention of everyone else around them. "That's it!" she shouted, making Reiko finally look at her directly into her eyes, her gaze cold. "You and me. Tomorrow. I challenge you to an Action Duel!"

"And?" Reiko still seemed rather bored.

"And…" Yuno faltered for a second. "I-If I win, then you leave this store and never come back."

"H-Hey!" Grace protested.

"And if I win?" Reiko suddenly sounded interested.

"If you win… then I quit dueling forever!" Yuno blurted out, thinking of the first thing that popped into her head. The moment that she said it however she instantly regretted it. If she quit dueling then she would lose her scholarship from Industrial Illusions along with all the extra they had been funding in order to her keep her family afloat.

Reiko, however, seemed to take her words completely seriously. "So, I could lose a potential fruitful deal for a up and coming business owner or I could flush an unknown duelist's life down the drain, savoring her misery." She chuckled. "Very well, Yuno Maeda. I will accept your proposal. Tomorrow we will duel for the future."

"Wait so you do know my name!" Yuno cried. "You-!"

"Well good-bye for now." Reiko started to leave, walking away from Yuno, but stopped right before the doorway. "Yuno..." She smiled. "You have made a grave mistake, my friend." She left, leaving Yuno boiling mad.

"…dammit," Yuno muttered, clutching her head.

"Yuno!" Misaki scolded. "Don't you think this is too hasty?!"

"Plus, my deal! Why bring my store into this?!" Grace whined. "My profits!"

"I dunno." Yuno uncomfortably fidgeted. "I mean it's not like she can completely stop me from dueling, right?"

"No, but she can and will destroy any potential career you could build after getting out of the Failure Class," Misaki warned. "She's basically an idol with ton of fans. I'm sure she can destroy your life if that happens. May you unable to ever get another duel in the future."

"Shit." Yuno gritted her teeth. "I-I just hate her. I mean, don't you?"

Misaki hesitated. "I-I do. But instigating a fight with her solves nothing. Trust me." Her expression went dark. "If you lose against her then you lose your dream."

Xxx

Cira tapped her piece of chalk on the board. "Counters are markers that are put on monsters' due to someone kind of card effect," she explained. "There are many types of counters for a variety of different archetypes. Each counter can be applied to a various effect but often have different names to differentiate themselves from each effect."

"So, I can use this card… get an advantage…" Yuno was muttering to herself.

"Yuno." Cira called on her. "Would you mind naming three different types of counters, since you believe that talking to yourself during a lecture is respectful?"

"Then this monster… with this card… if I keep…"

"Yuno?"

"Then this spell card… with that… these two trap cards…"

"Yuno!"

Cira's sudden shout startled the poor girl out of her thoughts and she looked up at her teacher. "Yes, Sensei?" she asked, nervously, suddenly realizing that that everyone's eyes were on her.

"As much as I appreciate you trying to improve your deck, you're in the middle of class." Cira shook her head. "Please pay attention."

"Sorry," Yuno quickly apologized. "I just have a big match today that I'm getting ready for."

Cira frowned. "A match? I didn't get any notifications on any matches for you today." She glanced at Misaki, who just avoided her gaze. "Who's it against?"

Yuno gritted her teeth. "Reiko," she answered.

Karma stared at her. "Reiko? That princess?" He snorted. "Good luck. You have no chance. Even I had trouble when dueling her. And that was a good year ago, too. Who knows how much better she's gotten since then."

"I'll be fine," Yuno insisted.

Karma shrugged. "If you say so."

Cira, however, was still focused on something else. "How were you challenged?" she asked. "I didn't think that Reiko would want to challenge someone from this class."

Yuno fidgeted. "I… I challenged her. She was being rude and annoying so I just…" She finished with a noncommittal shrug. "Can you blame me?"

"No," Cira said slowly. "No, perhaps not. But you must understand Yuno that you seem to be going into this too hastily." Right behind Yuno, Misaki seemed to wince. "You should probably withdraw at once. You aren't ready to face someone like Reiko. She's in another league."

Yuno's mouth dropped open. "You're joking right, Sensei?!" she asked sounding desperate. "But Yuta was able to beat that Masumi girl a couple of days ago. What makes you think that I can't do the same?"

Cira hesitated. "Because you're not ready. _But_ ," she said, stressing that last word. "I'll be rooting for you, if you do go ahead with this." She seemed awkward, unable to find the right words to say to Yuno, instead trying to skirt around the issue.

Yuno scowled. "I'll keep that in mind, Sensei," she said, coldly.

Cira winced, but moved back to her chalkboard, as Yuno turned her attention back to her deck. "Some type of counters include…"

Xxx

"Thanks for inviting me, kids," Roy said to both Misaki and Yuno, who were walking ahead, while he was behind with Yuta. It was after class and Roy and Yuta had been invited by Misaki to witness Yuno's match. Thought, truth be told, Roy's goal was actually to interrogate the kids whenever he could get the chance. He was running out of time for his report and he needed more information right away. And amount would get him closer to the truth.

"No problem," Misaki said smiling. "At this point you're a part of this class as any of us. Besides…" Her smile grew wider. "You're the one who asked us."

Roy winced. "Uh… yeah…"

"So Yuno." Yuta tried to change the subject. "Are you ready?"

Yuno nodded. "Yep! I've already made a deck. Got the perfect strategy to beat the smug smile off of her dumb face."

Yuta seemed taken aback. "Um… well I'm rooting for you, Yuno."

She blushed. "T-Thanks," she muttered, looking away to hide her blush.

Roy smiled, before he noticed the crowd that had formed outside the store. "There's no way we're all going to fit in there," he pointed out with a cringe. "This girl is pretty popular, isn't she?"

Yuno scowled. "Yeah, she is," she admitted. "That's why I'm taking you down a peg today." With a confident air surrounding her, she began to push past the giant crowd. However, the moment she started, whispers spread throughout the people gathered and they parted to let the small group through. People began to mutter and whisper to each other as they walked, something that didn't seem to bother Yuno as she charged forward pushing open the doors.

The crowd was thick even in the small shop. At the counter, Reiko sat sipping on a small water bottle with a young man talking to her in a low voice. He was wearing a rather plain set of clothes, a hoodie and a pair of blue jeans. He had chestnut brown skin and black hair styled into dreadlocks, along with a pair of shades.

Misaki's let out a small gasp as Yuno marched straight to the pair. "What's wrong?" Roy asked, glancing at her.

"That boy," she whispered back. "It's Alexander."

Roy perked up an eyebrow. "Who?"

"Alexander," Misaki repeated, as Yuta leaned in, apparently just as confused as Roy was. "He's another good duelist from the Synchro Course. The amazing thing is that in all of the matches he had participated in, he's never used the same deck twice."

Roy blinked. "Meaning…?"

"Unlike the rest of us, he doesn't get good with only one strategy and deck." Yuta hesitated. "Basically, he extremely flexible."

"What about Reiko?" Roy asked.

Yuta shrugged. "Oh no she only uses one deck. But that doesn't mean she necessarily worse than Alexander."

Grace was, as usual, behind the counter smoking a cigarette, watching as Yuno slammed her fist in front of Reiko. The princess glanced up at her with a bored expression on her face. "So?" Yuno said. "You ready for our match."

"Mmm… Our match?" Reiko mused. "Oh, right. I have something to admit. You'll not be dueling me today. You'll be dueling…" she gestured to Alexander. "Him."

Alexander raised a hand. "Yo."

Yuno blinked. "...What?"

Reiko rolled her eyes. "As I said. You'll be dueling Alexander today. Unfortunately, I'm feeling somewhat under the weather today, so I'll have to postpone out match. Instead, Alexander will be fighting in my stead If you manage to defeat him then I'll be nice enough to think about dueling you on a later date."

Grace grunted. "There's an Action Field downstairs in the basement," she explained, pointing to a staircase in the back. "I'll be operating it. the challenged has already chosen a field, so get down there, you brats."

Roy sighed. She clearly wasn't a people person. Oh well.

Yuno gritted her teeth. "Fine! Fine! I can still do this!" She glared at Alexander, the obstacle that was blocking her path to her revenge. "I'm going to defeat you!"

Xxx

A few minutes later, Yuno and the boy who was known as Alexander stood at opposite ends of a small field. The bleachers around them were filled to the brim with Reiko's fans, all of whom were disappointed about the fact that Reiko wasn't actually going to duel, but seemed excited at the prospect of seeing Alexander duel. Roy, Yuta and Misaki were sitting near the front, most people giving them a wide berth for some reason.

"Action Field!" Grace shouted, up in a control room. "On! Crash Town!"

The field around the two duelists shimmered as the scenery around them changed. A large desert materialized around the two along with runty wooden shacks and saloons, reminiscent of a town from an old spaghetti western movie. It was a small town with only about 15 or so buildings all of them run down and old, with the wood rotting in places.

"Duelists locked in battle!" Alexander started the chant.

"Kicking the earth and dancing alongside their monsters."

"They storm through the field! Behold!"

"Witness the next evolution of dueling come to life!"

"Action… DUEL!" The two said at the same time.

Xxx

"I'll go first!" Yuno shouted, and once see saw Alexander give her a short nod, she checked her hand and smiled. Perfect. "First, I activate the spell card Poison of the Old Man!" She cried, sliding the card into one of the slots on her Duel Disk. "With its effect, I gain 1200 Life Points!" **[Yuno LP: 4000+1200=5200]**

Alexander just seemed uninterested with whatever Yuno was doing, making her even more mad. "I then summon the monster card Aromage Jasmine to the field!" A small girl with white hair and big blue eyes materialized on the field. She wore a white robe and blue pants, a brown satchel around her right shoulder. **[Aromage Jasmine Lv.2 ATK: 100]** "Jasmine's effect activates! When my Life Points are higher than my opponents then I can normal summon one more Aromage from my hand this turn."

Alexander seemed to perk up. "Interesting…"

"I tribute Jasmine!" Yuno shouted, as Jasmine disappeared. "And use it to summon Aromage Bergamot in attack position!" Another Aromage, this one with dark red hair, tall and wearing green robes appeared. **[Aromage Bergamot Lv.6 ATK: 2400]**

"I end my turn with two face-down cards," Yuno said, as two vertical backings materialized just behind Bergamot.

"This is good, right?" Roy asked. "She's started off pretty strong."

"That is true, but…" Misaki bit her lips.

Roy noticed this. "What's wrong?"

"This doesn't seem to be her usual deck," Misaki explained. "I've only ever seen her use Aromages once before. And even then, she said she didn't particularly like the deck or the way it played. To use it now…"

Roy didn't really follow what she was saying but just nodded. "But she's winning, isn't she? That's good."

Misaki hesitated. "Yes… yes you are right."

"My turn!" Alexander said, his deep voice echoing throughout the stadium making everyone watching completely silent. "I-!"

"I activate my two trap cards!" Yuno suddenly interrupted, as her two traps flipped face forward. "Dried Winds and Humid Winds!" Winds began to blow through the small cowboy town coming from behind Yuno, as her hair began to whip wildly around. "With the effect of Dried Winds, I can sacrifice 1000 LP and add one Aroma monster from deck to hand!" A card slid out of her deck and she added it to her hand.

 **[Yuno LP: 5200-1000=4200]**

"Hmph." Alexander scowled. "From my hand, I activate the spell card "A" Cell Recombination Device. I send Alien Kid from my deck to the graveyard." Alexander pointed to Bergamot. "Per the spell card's effect, I can add four A-Counter to one of my opponents' monsters. I choose Bergamot!"

"What do you mean… Ugh, gross!" Yuno backed away, pinching her nose. "What are those things?!" Four pink blobs of strange alien life, attached themselves to Bergamot, much to the monster's dismay. **[Bergamot A-Counters: 4]**

"What the hell?!" Roy could only watch as Bergamot struggled to get the strange things off her to no avail.

"They're counters," Yuta explained, frowning. "They're what we were talking about in class today. But to think it would come to play like this…"

"I then activate the continuous spell Code A Ancient Ruins!" A large blue and black pyramid rose up behind Alexander, bathing his side of the field in blue energy. "Next up, I special summon Alien Overlord from my hand, by removing two A-counters from anywhere on the field." Two counters disappeared from Bergamot's body, as a large alien monster with four armors and an impressive jaw took its place in front of Alexander. **[Alien Overlord Lv.6 ATK:2200]**

"I then normal summon Alien Warrior." Another smaller alien monster appeared next to Overlord. **[Alien Warrior Lv.4 ATK: 1800]**

Yuno gritted her teeth. "Not so fast!" she shouted. "From my hand, I activate the effect of Aromaseraphy Angelica. By pitching it to the Graveyard, I can increase my life points equal the attack of one Aroma monster in my Graveyard. I choose Aromage Angelica! So, I gain 100 Life Points!" **[Yuno LP: 4200+100=4300]**

"So, what?" Alexander pointed out.

"I then activate the effect of Dried Winds! When I gain Life Points I can target one monster you control and destroy it. Your Alien Overlord is gone!" With those words, a sudden sharp gust of wind blew into Alien Overlord shattering it.

As Overlord was destroyed another pink blob alien appeared on the pyramid…

"Huh." Alexander blinked. "Nevertheless, I still have Alien Warrior. And…" Suddenly an action Card appeared in between his fingers. "This."

Yuno blinked. "How…?"

"Searched one of those building while you were blathering on about Life Points and what not," Alexander explained with a sneer. "Alien Warrior attacks Bergamot! When an Alien monster attacks another monster with A-Counters, that monster loses 300 ATK and DEF times the number of A-counters on it!"

 **[Aromage Bergamot ATK:2400-600=1800]**

"Next up is the Action Spell! First Draw! Alien Warrior's attack increases by 700!"

 **[Alien Warrior ATK: 1800+700=2500]**

Alien Warrior drove its claws straight through the belly of the Bergamot and crushed the poor monster in its claws. Yuno was pushed back by her monster's sudden destruction and force of Alien Warrior's attack. **[Yuno LP: 4300-700=3600]**

"With that…" Alexander snorted, with a flourish of his hand. "I end my turn." He smiled. "You're pretty good, lady. You've surprised me." He began to walk to the side, clearly heading for one of the rusty shacks near to him. "Still you're not all that special. You're entire play style. It's a gimmick. A paltry trick."

Yuno snorted. "Says you, Mr. Counterman," she said back, as she drew a card.

Alexander shrugged. "What can I say? I'm a hypocrite true and true." He suddenly dashed forward taking cover in a saloon, going completely silent.

Yuno scowled. "It's my turn!" she shouted. "I activate the second effect of Humid Winds. When my Life Points are lower than my opponents, I gain 500 Life Points!" **[Yuno LP: 3600+500=4100]** She smirked. "Dried Winds effect! I can destroy one monster one the field! I choose Alien Warrior!" Alien Warrior shattered. As it was destroyed another A-Counter appeared on the pyramid.

"See?" she shouted up to Reiko, with a crazed grin. "I can win! You'll pay for underestimating me!"

"Hmph." Reiko just gave Yuno a glare.

"From my hand, I summon Aromage Rosemary!" Another mage, this time wearing a blue robe and with blue hair appeared on the field just next to Bergamot. **[Aromage Rosemary Lv.4 ATK:1800]** "Next I activate Aromaseraphy Angelica's effect from my Graveyard! When I control and Aroma monster and my Life Points are higher than my opponents, I can special summon it from the Graveyard! Be revived, Angelica!" A small fairy with four wings, white hair and big blue eyes flew out of a small purple portal, taking its place next to Rosemary. **[Aromaseraphy Angelica Lv.1 ATK:0]**

"That's a tuner!" Misaki exclaimed.

"A tuner?" Roy repeated with a frown. "You mean she's going to…"

"Yep!"

"Level 1 Aromaseraphy Angelica tunes with Level 4 Aromage Rosemary!" Yuno shouted, as her two monsters flew up into the air. "The fairy who breathes life into others. Reveal thyself! Send us on the path of healing! SYNCHRO SUMMON! Level 5! Aromaseraphy Rosemary!" Aromage Rosemary materialized in a bright light, not sporting the two winds that Angelica had and a crook intertwined with flowers. **[Aromaseraphy Rosemary Lv. 5 ATK:2000]**

"She's done it!" Yuta cheered. "A synchro summon!"

"I can't believe it!" Misaki cried, clasping her hands in front of her. "That's incredible! I've never seen her do one so fast!"

Roy looked bewildered. "Is that impressive?" he asked.

"Very!" Misaki told him.

"Battle!" Yuno yelled, pointing at the building that Alexander was currently hiding out in. "Aromaseraphy Rosemary attacks you directly! And when Rosemary is on the field all Plant-Type monsters gain 500 attack! Go, Miracle Wind!" Rosemary raised its crook and sent a blast of heated wind at the building. **[Aromaseraphy Rosemary ATK: 2000+500=2500]**

"Action Spell!" Alexander suddenly shouted, rolling out of the building. "Lucky Draw! I draw one card and apply and effect based on what I drew!" He drew and showed Yuno what it was. "It's a trap card! Meaning I take only half the battle damage for the turn!" A bubble appeared around him blocking most of Rosemary's attack. **[Alexander LP: 4000-1250=2750]**

Yuno scowled. "A set one card on the field and end my turn!" she announced, as another set card materialized in front of her.

"Draw!" Alexander announced. "First, I activate the effect of Code A Ruins! I remove two counters from itself to special summon an Alien monster from my Graveyard!" The two counters on the giant pyramid behind Alexander disappeared. "I special summon Alien Overlord from my Graveyard!" The multi-arm horror appeared back on the field, letting out a huge roar, making Roy's skin crawl. "I activate Overlord's effect and attach one A-Counter to Rosemary!"

Another pink blob creature appeared on Rosemary's arm, much to the fairy's distaste. **[Aromaseraphy Rosemary A-Counters:1]**

Alexander glanced over his hand, before he jumped onto Alien Overlord's back. "Go!" he yelled suddenly, his voice echoing throughout the arena. Alien Overlord charged forward, its huge body stomping around making the ground underneath Yuno shake.

It took a second for Yuno to understand what Alexander was doing. "Shit," she swore, as Rosemary drifted over to her. She grabbed the fairy's leg. "Go!" she said, quickly and Rosemary flew into the air.

"So, now they're looking for Action Cards at the same time," Roy commentated, having gotten a good hang on how the game usually went. "If Yuno can get something good, then she could win this in the next turn, right?"

Yuta nodded, enthusiastically. "Even then, what's that guy going to pull to even get an edge up?' he pointed out. "Yuno still has her two trap cards and that one set one."

Misaki looked a bit more reserved. "Yeah, but…" She bit her lip. "Isn't this going a bit _too_ well?" she asked.

"What do you mean?" Roy asked.

"It's just…" Misaki winced, not liking the fact that she was doubting her friend's skill, but she felt like she had to say something anyway. "All of Yuno's cards only work when she's winning. Her opponent knows this… so why isn't he doing anything?"

"Maybe he can't?" Yuta pointed out. "Bad hand?"

That did nothing to wave away Misaki's worries. "Perhaps," she sighed. "Perhaps."

After a couple of seconds of searching, Yuno's eyes narrowed on a thin piece of paper in between the planks of a ruined house, on the opposite side of the field. "There!" she shouted, as Rosemary shot forward.

At the same time, Alexander spotted a card hidden underneath a cracked bottle on the ground. "There!" he shouted, as Overlord charged forward.

The two passed each other, solidly focused on the goals in front of them, the audience having gone silent in anticipation of what would happen. The two grabbed their cards at the same time and spun around the moment that they grabbed them.

Yuno froze, staring at her card, before her mind readjusted herself. "I can't use it now," she muttered, eyeing Alexander carefully, as to see what he would do. "But I can save it." She hesitated. "Just in case."

Alexander smirked. "Action Spell! Lucky Draw!" He drew a card. "It's a trap! Meaning I can negate the effects of all special summoned monsters on the field! Your Rosemary loses 500 attack since its effect is negated!" **[Rosemary ATK 2500-500]**

"Tch!" Yuno looked at the action card in her hand. None of the effects it had would be any use in this battle.

Alexander jumped off Overlord. "Overlord attack Aromaseraphy Rosemary!" he ordered, as the cannons on Alien Overlord's chest began to glow.

"I activate my trap card!" Yuno quickly said, flipping over her trap. "Plant Food Chain! I can equip this card to one of my monsters and it gains 500 attack!" A vine with a large mouth on the end, attached itself to Rosemary's left arm. **[Aromaseraphy Rosemary ATK: 2000+500=2500]**

"Of course." Alexander simply shrugged. "In that case, I set one monster and one card on the field ending my turn!" A horizontal face-down appeared next to Overlord along with a vertical one just behind it. "Of course, this means all monster's effects return." **[Aromaseraphy Rosemary ATK: 2500+500=3000]**

"My turn! Draw!" Yuno drew her card. She placed the action card at the end of her hand, only intending to use it if she ever got in a pinch. She didn't need it now. "I activate the Continuous Spell Card Miracle Fertilizer!" She announced. "With it I can special summon one Plant-type monster from my graveyard. I special summon Aromage Bergamot!" The red haired Aromage of the group, reappeared next to Aromaseraphy. **[Aromage Bergamot ATK: 2400]** "Unfortunately, this means I can't normal summon this turn."

Alexander smirked. "Small price to pay, isn't it?" he laughed to himself.

Yuno narrowed her eyes. "Battle!" she announced. "Bergamot attacks Alien Overlord! Bergamot gains 500 attack from Rosemary's effect! Ravaging Rose!" Bergamot raised its hand and fired a blast of fire, that formed itself into that shape of a rose, as it burned Alien Overlord to dust. Alexander didn't move, as fire passed right by him, singing his hair. **[Alexander LP: 2750-700=2050]**

"Next Rosemary!" Yuno shouted. "Attack his face-down! When a plant-type monster attacks and I have more life points than my opponent, then all Plant-type monsters deal piercing damage!" Bergamot snapped her fingers as Rosemary glowed with red energy. Rosemary on the other hand raised her crook, as a small light beam emerged from it, striking the face-down. It flipped itself up, revealing a small cowering alien just before it shattered. **[Alien Gray DEF: 800]** However at the exact moment it shattered, a pink blob alien appeared on the arm of Bergamot. **[Aromage Bergamot A-Counters: 1]**

The blast just passed Alexander, striking the ground beneath his feet. He stumbled back, but amazingly was still holding himself upright. **[Alexander LP: 2050-1900=150]**

Yuno blinked. "It didn't…" she started to say.

Alexander rolled his eyes. "You forgot about the counters girlie. Whenever your monster battles an Alien monster with it, they lose 300 attack and defense. Still…" He coughed sand out of his lungs. "You did manage to scratch me quite a bit. I should return the favor next turn." He drew a card from his deck. "Also, whenever Gray is destroyed by battle I can draw one card." He winked. "Thanks."

Yuno shook her head and grinned. "No problem. Glad to help." She had to admit it to herself, that she was rather enjoying this entire duel. Was this what winning felt like? "I'll end my turn," she announced, a grin escaping her face.

Reiko continued to watch the match. In her seat, she could easily see Alexander's hand. She let out a sigh. "Pathetic."

"Draw!" Alexander drew his card and smiled. "I activate the effect of A Cell Recombination Device in my Graveyard! I can banish it and add one Alien monster from my deck to my hand." A card slid out of his deck and he added it to his hand.

Yuno gripped the singular card in her hand. What was he planning…?

She got her answer rather quickly. "I normal summon Alien Ammonite!" A floating alien head with sharp clawed tentacles appeared on the field. **[Alien Ammonite Lv.1 ATK: 500]** "Then I activate the effect of Alien Dog from my hand! I can special summon it when I normal summon an Alien monster!" Next to Ammonite, a pale skinned Dog with a rather large bone in its mouth jumped onto the sad, taking its place next to Ammonite. **[Alien Dog Lv.3 ATK: 1500]** "When Alien Dog is summoned this way it adds two A-Counters to a monster of my choice!" The dog spat out two more pink blobs onto Rosemary's legs, making the monster cringe.

Yuno did too, but she kept her attention rapt. Something big was coming and she had a gut feeling it would be bad. But still she had all sorts of countermeasures in place, in case it did happen, so she wasn't too worried.

Alexander wasn't done. "Alien Ammonite's effect! I can special summon one level four or lower Alien monster from my Graveyard! Come back, Alien Warrior!" **[Alien Warrior Lv.4 ATK: 1800]**

"Alien Ammonites tunes itself with Alien Warrior!" Alexander yelled, as Yuno's eyes grew wide. "Fortress of the unearthly beings, descend upon onto this realm and spread your wrath! SYNCHRO SUMMON! Level 5! Cosmic Fortress Gol'gar!" This synchro monster was massive, about twice the size of Rosemary. It was another Alien, sitting in a large vehicle with several tentacles extending out from his back. Two glowing green eyes stared down at Yuno. She gulped. **[Cosmin Fortress Gol'gar Lv.5 ATK:2600]**

"Gol'gar's effect!" Alexander said. "I can bounce all face-up Spell and Trap cards on the field and distribute A-counters based on the number of that were sent back to the hand!" Gol'gar fired several laser beams at all the Spell and Trap cards that Yuno controlled along with the one continuous one that Alexander had controlled.

 **[Aromaseraphy Rosemary A-Counters: 2]**

 **[Aromage Bergamot A-Counters: 3]**

 **[Cosmic Fortress Gol'gar A-Counters:2]**

Yuno could only watch as all her Spell and Trap cards were suddenly returned to her hand, even more pink blobs were attached to her monsters. She bit her lip. "S-So?!" she countered. "I still have-!"

"I activate my continuous trap card!" Alexander interrupted, flipping his trap card face-up. "I activate this if I control an Alien monster, like Alien Dog! I can take control of up to three monsters my opponent has, that have A-counters on them So that means I control both Aromaseraphy Rosemary and Aromage Bergamot!" The two monster's eyes suddenly turned light green, as they slowly floated over to Alexander's field, leaving Yuno completely defenseless.

"She's got nothing on her field!" Roy cried, surprised at how quickly the table had turned on her.

"Not so fast," Misaki quickly said, calming both Roy and Yuta. "She's still got her action card. She can come back from this. She can."

"I activate the Action Spell!" Yuno announced, not letting the worry she was feeling on the inside show on her face. "Lucky Draw! I draw one card and apply an effect based on the card I drew!" She gripped the card on the top of her deck, knowing that this could save her. "I draw!" she announced, drawing her card, with her eyes closed.

A few seconds passed before she looked at her card. "Monster!" She looked ecstatic. "I can special summon one monster from my Graveyard! I special summon Aromage Jasmine!" The mage from the beginning of the duel reappeared on the field. **[Aromage Jasmine DEF: 1900]**

"I activate Cosmic Fortress Gol'gar's second effect!" Alexander announced, as his big synchro monster began to move. "I can detach two A-Counters from it and destroy one monster on the field!" Two counters disappeared from Gol'gar's massive body. **[Cosmic Fortress Gol'gar's A-Counters: 0]** Gol'gar looked at Aromage Jasmine, as a giant light beam from his eyes zapped the poor monster to dust.

"Jasmine!" Yuno cried, looking horrified. Her comeback…

"Battle!" Alexander announced. "Cosmic Fortress Gol'gar and Alien Dog… attacks directly!" Alien Dog opened its mouth and fired a beam of pure energy while Gol'gar fired another large beam at the same time.

The last thing, Yuno saw was a bright green light rushing towards her before she blacked out.

Xxx

When Yuno woke up a second later, she was on the ground lying on her back. Everyone around her was silent, and the action field was slowly fading away. She pulled herself to a sitting position to see that Alexander was waving at the crowd, grinning and smiling. He caught her staring at him, and quickly averted his eyes from her, keeping his focus on the cheering crowd.

Yuno looked back at the crowd, to see that no one was paying her any attention, aside from her two friends and the reporter in the stands. She quickly hopped to her feet and exited the arena stiffly, gritting her teeth.

Roy felt Misaki tug at his sleeve. He looked over to her and whispered a quiet, "What?" He had his camera held up intending to take a picture of the match's winner.

"We're going to Yuno," Misaki mumbled, getting ready to stand up. Yuta nodded and stood up as well, beginning to inch himself out of the stands.

Roy didn't want to leave yet. "Wait," he protested. "I just want one picture-!"

"Now!" Misaki hissed, her face turning terrifying for a second, that made Roy's heart skip a beat.

"R-right!" he quickly said, following her and Yuta out of the crowd that was still chanting Alexander's name.

A few minutes later, the four of them were standing outside the store. Luckily most of the crowd that had watched their match, were still in the basement. Yuno slammed her fist into the wall and grit her teeth. "I…I lost…" she muttered, unable process.

"Yuno…" Misaki gave her a sad look.

"You still did pretty great, Yuno," Roy tried to reassure the poor girl.

"Roy's right!" Yuta agreed, with slightly more force. "Your deck was really good! You had Alexander pretty much backed into a corner the entire time. I was surprised that you even -!"

"She lost." A new voice suddenly interrupted. "Please boy. Do not mince your words. She'll never accept reality if you keep doing that." They all turned around to see Reiko standing there staring at them with an impassive face.

Yuno froze, before she scowled. "Here to rub it in my face, aren't you? Tell me how much you enjoyed watching me fail, again?"

Reiko shook her head. "Actually no. That is incorrect. I'm here to talk to you about the deal we had made yesterday."

Misaki moved in front of Yuno, glaring at Reiko. "You're sick," she told her bluntly. "Even now, you intending to make the two of our lives as horrible as possible. Haven't you gotten bored of it?" She glanced behind her, to see that Yuno wasn't even listening. She was just staring at the ground; her eyes having gone blank after remembering the deal.

"You're still completely wrong, you dullards. I have gotten bored of doing that. Don't assume." She yawned. "Remember the exact words of the deal were that if I won you would quit dueling and if you won then I would cancel the deal I made with the owner." She smiled, eerily. "However, neither of those results came to pass, didn't they?"

"Huh?" Yuno looked up at her with wide eyes.

"This agreement is officially null and void," Reiko explained. "Neither results have come to pass thus nothing will happen."

Roy was stunned. "You planned this…?"

Reiko's smile grew wider and she turned away from the small group. "I hope you learn from this experience, my dear friends." She began to walk away.

"Do not cross me."

Xxx

"I fucking hate fangirls," Alexander scowled, pulling his hood over his head, trying to get noticed by anyone in the fancy restaurant that Reiko had brought him to. After his win, she had invited him here and he had graciously accepted. He didn't often get the chance to go somewhere as fancy as this. "Dumbasses. All of them."

"Please keep all that coarse language in her mind, Alexander," Reiko scolded lightly, sipping her tea. "It's unbecoming."

"Tch." Alexander rolled his eyes. "I'll whatever the fuck I want. Don't give a shit. Only came here for free food and to ask you a question."

"Ask away."

"Why did you want me to beat up that girl?" he asked. "I'm not saying she was bad, but you could've beat her. Hell, I used a starter deck I had found in the store to nuke her."

Reiko stayed silent.

"Not answering, huh?" Alexander leaned back and groaned. "Can't say I didn't expect it, but I was hoping that you would act less like a self-absorbent prick here." He shrugged. "Oh well. Can't say it was unexpected."

"It was a warning," she finally replied.

"A warning?" Alexander groaned. "Only you would go use such a roundabout way for something so simple." He leaned forward. "What was it?"

"I was trying to make them understand the hierarchy and where they stand in it. Yuno does not understand her place, and while I'm sure Misaki understand full well, she would never admit it aloud." She smiled. "However, knowing Yuno she would never accept it laying down. So, the warning was more so a challenge perhaps." She shrugged.

"I understand finding the green girl an interesting challenge," Alexander said with a shrug. "But trying to provoke that murdering bitch? What's your angle?"

"My angle…" Reiko repeated, staring out a window. "Maybe it's because…" She fell silent, as all of Alexander's food arrived at the table, it practically overfilled the small table they had been given and not even one of it was for Reiko.

Alexander eyes her carefully. "You _are_ paying for this right?"

Reiko sighed. "Yes. Yes I am."

"Great." Alexander grinned and began to chow down with incredible gusto.

Xxx

Yuno stared at hands blankly, sitting on her bed back at home. An entire night had passed since she had lost to Alexander and she hadn't slept a wink. She hadn't even bothered to go to school for today and was currently skipping Cira's class.

"I lost," she muttered, for probably hundredth time.

Suddenly someone knocked on her door, startling her out of her depression. She got up from her bed and soothed her hair back, before she opened it up. The moment she did, however, she let out a small startled gasp, as Cira looked down at her with a blank stare. "What are you-?" she started to ask, stumbling over her words.

"Can I come in?" she asked, peeking into the empty house. "I ended class early today to come talk to you."

Silently, Yuno nodded and moved aside to let Cira in. Cira say down at the table in the dining room, while Yuno quickly whipped up some tea. The moment that she placed the cup down in front of Cira, her sensei had smiled. "You're a very good cook, you know that?"

Yuno grinned sheepishly. "Well you have to get good to dead with young immature brats every day! You're just lucky everyone is in after-school care right now!" She laughed cheerfully, that quickly died in a few seconds.

Cira took a sip. "I heard about the duel from Misaki."

Yuno's spirits dropped. "Oh. She told you about it," she muttered, averting her eyes.

"Are you okay?" Cira asked. "I also heard that you didn't come to school."

Yuno winced. "Not particularly," she muttered. "It's just… that loss really hurt a lot more than any of my other ones. I prepared so much, so why did I lose?" She started to sound desperate. "Sensei, do you know? Why did I lose?"

"I do not know," Cira admitted. "Just know what matters is how you bounce back and learn from this loss."

"You say that but I have no idea what I could've learned from it." Yuno sighed. "I just… I just…" She clenched her fist. "I enjoy dueling as much as anyone else." She looked around at her empty room. "I was hoping that I could use it to bring some happiness to these kids' lives. Or maybe I could've made some money from behind an Action Duelist and helped support my family."

"That's an admirable dream, Yuno," Cira complimented.

"But then, why did I lose?" Yuno asked. "Isn't it the one who believes the most the one who wins." She hesitated. "I-I just want to help my family." She stole a glance to a nearby cupboard where she was hiding the syringe she had gotten from Industrial Illusions.

"Duels are not won by believing that you'll win," Cira pointed out. "They are won through skill and the occasional luck. Do not place too much faith in your ability to win against all odds."

"I-I don't!" Yuno cried. "I just wanted to win that once. Is that so wrong?!"

"It's not, Yuno," Cira said. "The cards just weren't in your favor this time. There'll be other times won't there?" She smiled. "I know you. You'll bounce back. You'll be same Yuno that everyone in class enjoys being, around won't you? Cheerful, Optimistic, and Confident. Those are your best traits after all."

Yuno let out a sigh. "I just have to try harder next time?"

Cira nodded.

"You're right." Yuno said with a nod. "Don't worry. Tomorrow I'll be back to my normal self. But next time, I'm not losing to Reiko. Not until she finally apologizes for what she did to me and Misaki!"

Cira blinked. "What did she do if you don't mind my asking?"

Yuno shook her head. "Actually, I do mind," she admitted. "It's just something Misaki and I don't want to talk about. Just yet."

Cira hesitated. "I understand," she said with a nod, before pulling a small notebook out of her purse. "In any case, I got you the schoolwork that you missed from my class today, along with some that Misaki told me to bring to you."

Yuno hesitated. "You don't think…?"

"No."

"I thought so."

Xxx

Action Cards:

First Draw: Action Quick-Play Spell

Effect: Target one monster you control, only that monster may attack this turn and increase its ATK by 700 until the end of the turn. Your opponent cannot activate cards in response to this effect or effects that target the monster that was target until the end of the Battle Phase.

Lucky Draw: Action Quick-Play Spell

Effect: You can activate this card on your opponent's turn directly from your hand. Draw one card and apply the following effects based on the card.

Monster: Special summon one monster from your Graveyard.

Spell: Half all battle damage taken this turn

Trap: Negate the effects of all Special Summoned monsters until the end of this turn.

After the effect resolves, send the card that was drawn to the Graveyard.

* * *

 **An interesting chapter if I do say so myself. Nothing more to say other than that reviews and constructive criticism are appreciated.**

* * *

Next time…

Shiniji Honda is a budding engineer looking to improve the way that Action Dueling is done… through the science behind Action Fields. His only interests in life is perfecting his invention and his garage, which it his only place that he can truly enjoy the time with his friends. However, when a mysterious masked boy named Yuto suddenly faces, he is finally given a chance to test out his invention and prove his worth! However will he be able to face a soldier from another dimension?

Find out in… "Our Garage!"


End file.
